Few and Far Between
by TheScarletAvenger
Summary: Things were so much easier for Agents Darcy Lewis and Phil Coulson when they were on an undercover mission playing husband and wife. Now they're in a real relationship and they have to keep it a secret at work. Things are going pretty well until a life changing event happens to Darcy. Now she has to find the perfect moment to tell Phil. Continuing the story from 'Playing House.'
1. From Flushing with Love

It had been three months since Agents Darcy Lewis and Phil Coulson left a little town called Shady Oaks. They were assigned to act as a married couple to find out what happened to several missing men. They had found out that there were two werewolves hunting the town looking for mates. Phil got captured by one and Darcy saved his life, which he repaid by saving hers. During their time there Darcy and Phil grew close together and struck up a rather unlikely romance. It continued after they returned back to headquarters, but they had to be extra careful to keep it secret. The only person that knew about them was Clint Barton, and so far he had been good about not giving them away.

Darcy and Phil kept a very professional relationship at work but when they were alone together at his or her apartment it was a completely different story. Many nights they just spent curled up on the couch or in bed, watching TV, reading together (Phil especially thought it was hilarious when Darcy read 50 Shades of Grey to him in an overly dramatic voice), or just holding each other. When they went out in public, they made sure that they were never seen by anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers. They were risking their jobs every time they were together, but it was worth it to them. While what they had going on might seem tedious to other couples, Phil and Darcy were determined to make it work.

Darcy's phone rang and she smiled when she saw who it was. Carefully she picked it up without dropping it into the water. "How's the expo?" she asked, sloshing the water around in the tub when she sat up.

"Justin Hammer was just on and made a complete fool of himself. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Stark isn't coming on until the end for his reveal," Phil answered. "I had to get out of the main conference room for a bit, so I thought I'd give you a call from the lobby."

"I'm taking a bubble bath at your apartment."

"Mmmm ..." Phil's voice purred over the phone. "Wish I was there."

"Hey! I came in here to get clean. Now I'm just starting to feel dirty again. Stop it, sir," Darcy giggled. "Besides you and me in your tub doesn't work. Remember we tried?

"Shower, then?"

"No way! Not even Satan takes showers as hot as you do!" She had made a mistake of jumping in the shower while he was taking one before and almost got third degree burns. She had never known any man to actually enjoy taking a shower in scalding hot water before. "Actually, I'm not really relaxing in here. I'm reading up on that mission to Argentina. I can't believe Fury assigned Agent Morrison to it. Does he not know that that guy is barely capable of tying his own shoes?"

"Hmmm ... sounds like my work ethics are rubbing off on you."

"I know! What the fuck is up with that, man?" Darcy joked.

Phil chuckled.

Darcy stood up and stepped out of the bathtub. "I wish I could be there with you. I've always wanted to go to a Stark Expo. I heard he throws a good party." She dried herself off and then wrapped the towel around her.

"There's a pretty good desert bar here. Chocolate fountain is at least ten feet tall." He paused for a moment and Darcy could tell he was taking drink of something.

"Are you staying in Flushing tonight?" she asked, reaching into the bottom drawer of the dresser and pulled out some fresh clothes. She had been staying at his place so much that she actually had her own drawer in his dresser and cabinet in the bathroom. Darcy walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it as she slipped her shorts on.

"I'm not planning on it," he answered, his voice slightly slurred.

Darcy grinned. "Me thinks you're a little tipsy, Agent."

There was a long pause over the phone. "I should have known not to accept a drink straight from Stark's hand. He's seems to think I'm uptight for whatever reason."

Darcy slipped on one of Phil's t-shirts, and giggled. "Well, maybe he needs to get to know the real you."

"Not happening. I like our relationship the way it is," Phil said flatly.

"You better not try to drive home tonight," Darcy giggled into the phone as she walked out into the living room. She sat down on the couch and pulled an afghan around her. She lifted the corner of it to her nose and smiled–she loved that she could smell his cologne on it. It made her feel like he was right here with her even though he was miles away.

"I'll be fine. I want to see you tonight. We haven't actually been alone together since–"

"Like in forever," Darcy sighed. It had almost been two weeks without any alone time with Phil. He had been working late every night on mission details to an operation to a place called Bagalia. He had almost been put on it while he and she were still in Shady Oaks. Luckily, he was able to make Fury postpone it, but as soon as he returned to work after the events in Shady Oaks, he was placed back on it. It wasn't bad at first because they still were able to spend a great deal of time with each other, but now that it was getting closer for he and his team to leave, his time was more focused on work than her. A chilly breeze blew through the apartment window and Darcy pulled the afghan tighter around her. "You're going to miss 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.'" Darcy flipped on the TV and snuggled down into couch.

"Can you DVR it? We can watch it tomorrow night."

"We won't be home," Darcy replied with a smile. It seemed Phil forgot something rather important, or he was choosing to pretend he forgot about it so he wouldn't have to go.

"Why won't we be home?" he said loudly into the phone over the blasting AC/DC music in the background.

"God, what the hell is going on in there? Sounds like a rock concert," Darcy pressed the phone tighter to her ear so she could hear Phil.

"Looks like Stark's about to take the stage. I better–" There was a whacking sound, followed by a grumbled 'shit' from Phil.

"Phil? What just happened?" Darcy asked.

"I turned around and walked into a glass door," Phil muttered over the phone.

"Seriously?" Darcy burst out laughing. "You know Tony is going to be playing the security tape of that over and over again, right?" she said through another fit of laughter.

"Yep," he muttered again. "I think I'm going to have to hack into his system and delete that. Listen, sweetheart, I've got to go inside now. I'm leaving for home after this thing is through. I'll probably get in around midnight."

"Phil, you're talking funny and walking into glass doors. You better see if you can shack up there tonight. I'm sure Stark's got plenty of room for you." Darcy pressed the record button on the remote as soon as Charlie Brown came on. She wanted Phil to be with her more than anything tonight but there was no way he was fit to drive.

"I'll be home," he said over the loudness of music. "See you later tonight, sweetie."

Darcy sighed into the phone. "Okay. See you tonight." There was a clicking noise from Phil's end, followed by a dial tone. Darcy sighed again and looked at the blank screen of her phone and drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch. Phil was coming home tonight whether he was fit to drive or not. Of course, a tipsy Phil could be really hot for some bedtime fun times, but a squished Phil on the highway would not be. Darcy tapped her fingers faster trying to devise a plan to get him home in one piece. She nodded to herself and picked up her phone, dialing Clint's number.

It rang several times and then Clint picked up. "Yel-low?"

Darcy snorted. "Dork. Hey, listen, do you think you can do me a favor?"

"Depends. What do you need?"

"Phil's in Flushing, New York at the Stark Expo and needs a ride home. I was thinking maybe you could contact Pepper Potts and see if she can arrange a car ride for him. I mean, I do it but I know she's going to want to know who I am and all that razzle dazzle."

"What's wrong with his car? Is it broke down or something?" Clint asked.

"No, his car is fine. Phil's a little inebriated. Not like crazy bad, but I don't want him driving for hours like that. He'll be tired too. He needs a ride."

"Phil's drunk?"

"No. Clint, can you do that for me? I told him he should just stay there for the night and come home tomorrow morning but he's dead set on getting home." Darcy sat up on the couch and lit the sandalwood candle on the coffee table.

"Sounds like he wants to get it on with you. You guys haven't been together in like almost two weeks, right?" Clint said.

"Eww, what are you keep track of us or something?" Darcy made a face at the phone.

There was a chuckle on the other end. "You keep whining about it. Okay, okay, I'll call Pepper and see what I can do."

"Just say that you talked to Phil and he sounded like he might need a ride."

"Sounds like there is flaw in this plan somewhere," Clint snickered.

"Hey, I might not be the best at planning things without a hitch like my boyfriend, but it's either this or possibly having him end up wrapped around a telephone pole." Darcy said.

"Speaking of planning things. Thanks for your help on organizing my Halloween Party."

Darcy smiled. "No problem. It was fun. I haven't been to a real Halloween Party in years. It was nice of Tony to let you have it at the Avengers Tower."

Clint chuckled. "All I said to him was party and he was in."

Darcy leaned back on the couch and yawned. "Phil isn't very thrilled. He doesn't do Halloween or costumes he said. " She rolled her eyes.

"Not even when he role plays as Captain America in the bedroom?" Clint teased. "Or is it you that has to wear the Captain America costume for him?"

Darcy laughed out loud and snorted at the same time. "You're a jerk!"

There was a laugh on the other end. "Okay Miss Piggy, I better call Pepper. I'll text you to let you know what the deal is."

"Sounds good. Thanks Clint," Darcy smiled into the phone as hung up. Not only had her relationship with Phil grown stronger over the last few months, but her relationship with Clint had as well. They were better friends than ever before. He wasn't weirded out at all that she and Phil were dating; he actually said he was happy for the both of them. Now if Darcy to get him to confess his feelings for Natasha.

A few minutes later her phone buzzed.

{{Got him a ride}}

At least she wouldn't have to worry about him getting home safely now. She smiled into her cup of hot chocolate, snuggled into the afghan, and went back to watching her show as she waited for her man to arrive.

* * *

It wasn't until after one a.m when she woke from the sound of keys scratching on the other side of the door. It was that sound when someone was drunk or overly tired (or both) and couldn't exactly get the key in the hole. Darcy yawned and stretched her arms over her head as she rolled off the couch and walked over to the door and opened it up. "Well look what the cat dragged in?" she smirked, placing her hands on her hips.

Phil's eyes were glassy from too many drinks or over exhaustion (or both, Darcy couldn't tell yet). "You want to explain to me why Pepper Potts was dragging me by the arm out of my car and shoving me inside Stark's limo?" he raised his eyebrow as he walked past Darcy and into his apartment. He tossed his bag on the floor and turned back to his girlfriend. "She said Clint said I was drunk off my ass and couldn't drive home. Funny, I don't remember talking to Clint at all this evening. I do, however, recall talking to his partner in crime," he smirked.

"Well, hello to you too," Darcy said shutting he door and walking over to the couch where Phil was sitting. She plopped down next to him and tipped her head onto his shoulder. "I was being one of those worrying girlfriends. I wanted you home in one piece."

"I'm not drunk," he said kissing the top of her head. "I am a bit upset that my car is in Flushing and that I'll need to go retrieve it in the morning."

"At least you didn't drive Lola," Darcy looked up at him and grinned. Other than his vintage Captain America cards, Lola, was his prized possession. Nobody but him touched Lola.

"Lucky for you," he smirked, wrapping his arm around her. This was the first time in almost two weeks that he was able to intimately touch her. "I missed you," he said kissing her forehead.

"Missed you too. Happy you're home," she replied, playing with the buttons on his dress shirt. "Though, I was sort of hoping you would be drunk off your ass so I could take advantage of you," she smirked, yanking his tie playfully.

He looked down at her and arched his eyebrow. "Who says you can't take advantage of me still?" He reached for the remote and flipped the TV off, just leaving room lit by the warm glow of the candle on the table.

Darcy was already popping the buttons of his shirt open. "Prepare to have your world rocked, Agent," she whispered against his ear.


	2. Just Say You'll be There

Darcy usually woke up with Phil's arms wrapped securely around her, but there were mornings like this– where she woke up first with his head laying on her chest and her arms wrapped around him. These mornings she liked the best. She was careful not move too much so she wouldn't wake him. She smiled as she counted the little freckles that dotted his shoulders. Gently, she brushed her fingertips over his slightly graying sideburns. He shifted a bit, making a soft groan as he tilted his head up to look at her.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Darcy said quietly, still stroking her thumb over his hair by his ear.

"Morning," he replied groggily. "Playing with my gray hair again?" He hated that he was going gray, but Darcy thought it made him look distinguished and handsome.

"How many times do I have to tell you that the gray thing totally works for me?" she giggled. He chuckled and turned his head to look at the clock.

"After nine already? I hate sleeping in," he said sitting up in bed. If he didn't wake up before 7 a.m he considered the whole day shot to hell. He groaned, rolled out of bed and grabbed some clothes from the dresser.

Darcy watched as he went from sleepy, peaceful Phil to wired, back to business Phil. That's why she hated to wake him, because she enjoyed these quiet moments. Even when they were cuddle up on the couch, he still was checking his phone or laptop every two minutes (especially now that his mission was getting closer), which drove her bonkers. "We did have a big night," she grinned as she thought back to last night's festivities. "Three times! I do believe that's a new record for us!" Darcy sat up and wrapped the comforter around her naked body.

Phil stopped just before he got to the bathroom door and turned to look at her. "It was a welcome surprise," he grinned slightly. He stepped into the bathroom, and poked his head out of the door to look at Darcy. "Get up and get ready. We have to drive to Flushing to pick my car up."

Darcy groaned. "Can't we just see if Pepper can arrange someone to deliver it to us?" she shouted over the running water from the shower.

"That poor woman has enough on her plate. Get ready, Darcy," Phil called from the bathroom. Not more than a second later the door opened up and Phil came out pointing at his neck. "This. This shouldn't be here," he said tapping the purple bruise on his neck.

"Just getting you back from the two you left on my inner thigh last time," she smirked.

"There's a difference between where I gave you a hickey and where you gave me a hickey. The difference is no one but me sees the insides of your thighs." Phil walked over to the mirror and tilted his neck to look at the bruise. "How am I supposed to hide this?" he asked, stroking his thumb over the spot.

"Chillax. It's far enough down your neck where your collar will hide it." Darcy laughed. She couldn't help but feel a little proud (and get a little turned on) by the sight of him checking the bruise she left on his neck. "How did you used to hide them?"

He stopped looking at the mirror and glanced over at his brunette beauty. "Never had to hide one before because this is the first one," he gave her that strained tight lipped trademark smile of his.

Darcy bit her bottom lip. This was his first love bite?

Oh yeah, she was swimming in pride.

* * *

The drive to Flushing was a nicer drive than Darcy expected. The trees were in shades of gold, red, and brown. The air had that crisp autumn scent to it–which happened to be Darcy's favorite smell. She leaned back in the seat and pulled her sweater up to her chin.

"Cold?" Phil asked, looking over at his girlfriend. "I can put the top up."

"Nope." While Phil liked to be toasty and warm, Darcy preferred the chill in the air. "I love autumn," she said, watching the trees zip by as they headed down road.

"Hmm," Phil agreed.

"You do remember we have somewhere to be at eight tonight, right?" Darcy said, looking over at Phil and raising her eyebrow.

"I'm trying to forget about it," Phil muttered. "Am I really needed there?" he asked, hoping she'd say no.

"You can't tell me you hate parties. Especially one I helped plan. It's going to kick your mother fucking ass, Coulson!" she joked.

"I told you I don't do Halloween or costumes." He looked over at her just as he turned down the street to the convention center where his car was parked. "Besides, you do realize that we can't go as couple, right?"

Yeah, that was kind of a bummer that they couldn't go together, but nevertheless, Darcy wanted him there. "I know we can't be seen together but please come. As far as a costume, you don't have to wear one if you don't want to. I mean, you'll look like the odd man out because everyone else is going to be wearing one, but if that's the only thing that's holding you back then don't wear one. Just wear a suit with a 'Bob' name tag or something."

"Who's Bob?" Phil smirked.

"It can be your alias for the night," Darcy laughed. "Please, just come! There is going to be a fully stocked–_free_–bar. Food, games, and you can chat it up with Stevie. He'll be there too. I know how much you get turned on by his presence," Darcy teased.

"Okay, I'm really not going now." He shook his head, pulling the car into the empty spot next to his black Acura (Darcy said that car was his 'agent car' because how of how government-like it looked). "What costume are you going to wear?" he asked pulling the key out of his jacket pocket and tossing it to Darcy.

"If you go, you'll find out. And maybe, I have a costume for your eyes only that I'll wear at _our_ own private party afterwards," she winked. She glanced down at the key in her hand and then back to Phil. "What's this for?"

"You're driving the Acura back. Why do you think I made you come with me? For your charm and lovely conversation?" Phil said dryly. He grinned when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Is it a naughty nurse costume?"

"You're such a dick sometimes. And no, it's not a nurse–"

"Phil!" a woman's voice called out from the parking lot. She waved madly when Phil and Darcy looked in her direction, and started to walk quickly over to the car with her impeccable shoes clicking against the pavement.

"Miss Potts," Phil greeted.

"How are you feeling? Did you drive all the way here to get your car? You should have called, I would have arranged to have it delivered to you," she said quickly.

Darcy looked over at Phil and gave him a 'told you so' look. "It's not a problem, Miss Potts. And I'm feeling fine. Thanks for having a car take me home last night," he said with a slight nod of his head.

"Oh, it was not a problem at all. Clint was really worried about you," she said and then noticed Darcy sitting in the seat next to him. "Oh! Is this your daughter?" she asked without really thinking.

Darcy wanted to roll her eyes at the red head. "Actually–"

"Actually," Phil cut in before Darcy could say something snarky to Pepper. "This is Agent Darcy Lewis. She came with me to drive the other car back."

Pepper's cheeks burned slightly. "Of course! Nice to meet you Agent Lewis,"

"Likewise," Darcy said giving her a toothy fake grin. "Hey, maybe I can get on the guest list for next years Stark Expo?"

"Umm ... sure. I'll see what I can do," Pepper said, jotting a note in her phone. "Oh, wait ... Darcy Lewis? You're the one that was helping Clint plan the party for tonight at The Avengers Tower?"

"That's me," Darcy grinned again.

Pepper flipped through her notebook until she landed on a page with a yellow sticky note stuck to it. "Grant's Party Supply just called said that they can't deliver your order of eighty penis-shaped balloons for tonight."

Darcy could tell that Phil was rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. She looked back at Pepper and smiled. "Wow, you weren't even embarrassed to say that."

Pepper gave Darcy a tight smile. "Trust me, after working with Tony for years and having to deal with his odd requests. Penis-shaped balloons are nothing."

She totally forgave Pepper for calling her Phil's daughter. Pepper Potts was pretty cool.

"Well, Tony and I are both looking forward to the party tonight. Hopefully, he'll be recovered from last night," she said with just the slightest roll of her eyes. She glanced down at her watch. "Oh god, I've got to go. I'm on a hot dog run. He swears it's the best hangover cure. A million things to do and not enough time in the day! Bye!" Pepper waved quickly then and headed off across the parking lot, heels clicking loudly.

"Well, she's exhausting! Awesome though! Anyone that can say 'penis-shaped balloons' without blushing or laughing is totally cool in my book. She did think you were my father though," Darcy said shaking her head. She knew that the one thing that Phil didn't like about their relationship was the huge twenty plus age gap between the two of them. He hated getting hateful looks from older women when he and she were out together just as much as getting the winks and nods of approval from men his age. Strangers thought he was a total creeper. He said it didn't bother him, but Darcy knew it did. "Man, Clint is going to be upset that we aren't going to have the balloons. We planned to have the penises drop from the ceiling at the end of the party. It was going to be funny." She pulled her phone out and started to text Clint the bad news.

"And you're wondering why I don't want to go?" Phil said taking his sunglasses off.

Darcy looked up from her phone and smirked. "Come on, Phillip!" she said with a click of her tongue and a wink. "Do it for your girlfriend."

"We'll see," Phil replied as he started his car up.

Darcy opened the door and stepped out and got inside the Acura. She started it up and put the window down with a smirk spread across her face. "See you at home, _daddy_," she said in an overly sexy voice and then peeled out of the convention center parking lot.

* * *

By the time she got back to Phil's apartment it was a quarter to four. She sped ten miles over the speed limit so she'd be able to have enough time to get ready for the party. She tossed her purse down on the couch and walked into the kitchen to grab a Coke before she went to put on gallons of sparkly makeup and fairy wings.

"Hey, you're back," Phil said as Darcy entered the kitchen. He shut his laptop and smiled at her. "I was wondering where you were."

"What?" Darcy crinkled her brows as she looked at him. She sped all way from Flushing to his apartment, and she even left a few minutes before he did, so how did he get here before her? "Um ... how long have you been home?"

"About an hour." He continued to grin at her, his hands folded on the table.

"An hour? How?" Darcy sat down across from him with her eyebrow raised in question. "What are you hiding from me, Coulson?"

He leaned forward, giving her that look that gave her good goosebumps and sent a chill up her spine. "That's classified," he said in a low whisper.

Darcy shook her head. "I don't think I like this game anymore," she joked. Having a high level super sneaky agent had it's perks but sometimes could be a real pain in the ass. "What is it? Teleportation? Supersonic speed? Tell me!" she whined.

Phil chuckled. "If the game is too intense you can always drop out, Agent Lewis." He pushed his glasses up a little further on the bridge of his nose.

Darcy stood up and wandered over to him and sat down on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, it is going to take a hell of a lot more than a few classified secrets before I quit," she whispered, taking her finger and sliding it softly on the curve of his ear. She could feel him shudder beneath her. It was times when they were flirting so intensely like this that it led to incredibly hot sex. She placed her fingertip his lips, which in return he kissed before drawing it into his mouth, sucking gently. Darcy pulled her finger slowly out of his mouth and then leaned forward, kissing him softly.

"Mmm," he hummed happily into her mouth as he returned her kisses. He put his arms around her, rubbing her back with the prefect amount of pressure. "Darcy ..."

_"Mmm ... Phil." _She loved saying his name.

"Darcy ..." he said in between kisses. "Darce ... I can't come–"

Darcy pulled away and looked at him with an arched eyebrow and a smirk. "That sounds like a problem," she teased.

"You didn't let me finish–"

Darcy snickered. "I can give you a hand," she said licking her lips as she smoothed her hand across the front of his trousers.

"I can't come to the party tonight," he said in a rushed breath. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"I thought you were going to try?" Darcy said dropping her hands to her side. "I know we can't be seen together. I just ... really wanted you there tonight. I would be like we weren't there together but we really are. I hate having to be so careful and secretive all the time. It's shit."

"I know. There's just no way we can do anything about it right now." Phil nodded in agreement, not able to meet her eyes. His heart beat a little faster as he thought about the possibility that maybe she would get tired of all this and want to break up with him. It would be his third fizzled relationship since he joined SHIELD. "I got called into the office tonight. Director Fury needs me to give him another rundown on the Bagalia mission. Otherwise–"

"Otherwise you'd go to the party even though it's the last place you'd want to be," she snapped (more than she intended to). She climbed off his lap and walked towards the door. "You know, a little fun in your life wouldn't hurt. It's like, you like when people perceive you as 'the agent with a stick up his ass.'"

"Darcy, I didn't have a choice," Phil said in the same level tone that he always talked in. He refused to shout back at Darcy or any woman for that matter (he was a better man than that). "You know how important this mission is."

"Actually, Phil, I don't." Darcy crossed her arms. "I'm only a Level 3. Not some hotshot Level 7 having lunch with the Super Friends, discussing top secret missions."

"That's not fair."

Darcy shrugged. "It's the truth though." She turned back towards the door, but stop to take one last look at Phil. "I was planning on coming back here after the party, but I think I'm just going to go to my own place now. And your information it was a French maid," she said just before she stomped out of his apartment.

Phil rested his elbows on the table and scrubbed his hands over his face. This was their second fight–the first was back in Shady Oaks when he led her on to think he was interested in her (which he was. He just had a hard time figuring out how to make it work without both of them getting the boot from SHIELD). Phil let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, trying to think of how he could smooth things over with Darcy. That girl could hold a grudge though, it had taken her almost a full week to speak to him when they had their first tiff. Now that they were in a somewhat established romance, she probably wouldn't talk to him for a month. "Christ," he muttered as he came to the conclusion that he sucked when it came to women.


	3. A Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

"Well, you're the saddest looking Tinkerbell I've ever seen," Clint said as he watched Darcy walk over to him with her arms crossed and frown on her face. He knew why she was mad, she had texted him right after she stormed out of Phil's apartment. She had told him that she didn't feel like coming to party, and she'd rather just stay home for the evening. He told her if she didn't get her ass down here, that he'd personally go to her place and drag her out by her sparkly fairy wings. After back and forth with brutal texts, she agreed that she'd come, even though she wasn't going to have fun. "Lighten up, Darce. It's not like he had a choice. You said Fury called him in, right?"

She nodded, and took the drink that Clint was handing over to her.

"What was he supposed to say to him? 'Uh, sorry I can't meet with you tonight, Director. I have a Halloween party to go to.' Somehow, I don't think that would go over to smoothly with Fury," Clint said taking a sip of his drink.

"I just wanted him to be here," Darcy said and then took a sip of the drink that Clint had handed her. "Holy crap! What's in this?" She choked on the bitter liquid that left a burning sensation in her throat.

"My own secret recipe. And, no I will not tell you what's in it." He drank it down like it was water and laughed at her as she studied the contents of her cup.

"Fuck! It tastes like floor cleaner and sour grapes," Darcy said taking another drink, and trying to swallow this time without choking. "God, I don't think I can swallow ..."

"I bet you don't tell Phil that." Clint snickered. He stopped when Darcy shot him a death look. "Yeah, sorry, that was inappropriate. Hey, you drink two of those and you'll be twerking all over the place," Clint said as he started to gyrate his body closely to Darcy.

"Eww, gross! Get away from me!" Darcy couldn't help but laugh as she tried to get away from her friend. Thank god for Clint, he could always make a shitty day better. She took another drink, it didn't taste so bad now (maybe she was just getting used to it or maybe her throat had gone numb, either way she could tolerate it now). "You know, what? Fuck it! _Fuck him! _I'm going to get drunk tonight and have some fun," Darcy said raising her glass to Clint.

"Atta girl," Clint said as he raised his glass to hers.

* * *

Phil walked into the headquarters at half past seven to meet with Director Fury. He was supposed to have a preliminary mission execution ready to present him with tonight. Phil had been prepping for it ever since he and Darcy got back from Shady Oaks, but more so now that it was getting closer to go time. He knocked twice on Fury's door and then entered. "Nick," he said with a nod. The other man was on the phone but nodded and waved Phil to take a seat. Phil sat down in the leather chair, crossed his legs, and rested the file marked 'confidential' in his lap.

"Have them get it done, Agent Reyes. I don't care if it takes them all night and into next week. Just have them do it," Fury spoke into the phone and then hung it up. He jotted something down on his notepad and then looked up. "Thanks for coming in, Phil."

"Not a problem, sir," Phil replied as he opened up the file and passed Fury a typed report of the preliminary mission rundown.

"This looks good," Fury said as he scanned the report. He slid his finger over the paper and stopped when he got to the roster of agents Phil wanted to take on the mission. "So you want Romanoff, Barton, and Dorchester?"

"Yessir," Phil nodded when Fury looked up at him.

"You can have Romanoff and Dorchester. Barton, I'd like to replace with Agent Ward." Fury said setting the report down on his desk.

Phil furrowed his brows a bit. "I'd like to take Agent Barton, sir. I need a good shot, and you know as well as I do, Barton is the best man here. Besides, he and Romanoff work well together. They're like peanut butter and jelly. Ward is an excellent agent, sir, but I don't need two black ops agents on my team." Phil shifted in his seat slightly, he hoped that he could get Fury to change his mind. Otherwise, he would have to do a lot of retooling to the mission strategics.

And there wasn't enough time to do that.

"Is there any particular reason that I can't have Barton?" Phil asked.

Fury placed his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his hands as he thought for a moment. "I was planning to send Barton to Africa with Agent Sitwell around the same time you would be shipping out. But, if you can find someone to replace Barton, you can have him."

"I think I can do that, Nick," Phil said. He was feeling relieved that a complete reworking of his mission would not be in order. Finding someone to go with Sitwell should be an easy enough task. He watched as Fury picked up the report again and started to read over it again. Maybe, if Fury finished up with him quick enough, he could still make it to the party. Halloween wasn't really his thing, but he knew it would mean a lot to Darcy if he made an appearance. Ever since she stormed out of his place this afternoon, he had felt guilty and a bit sick for acting the way he did.

"... so as soon as we get conformation that de Soto has the weapon we'll send you in-" Fury stopped talking when he noticed that Phil was starting at him but wasn't paying attention. "Phil?"

"Huh? What's that?" Phil snapped out of his 'Darcy trance' and blinked his eyes several times, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had no idea what Fury had been talking to him about in the last ten minutes. "Sorry, sir."

"You alright, Cheese?" It was known that Phil's nickname was Cheese, but why he was called that no one really knew. Sometimes it seemed like it was a private joke between him and Fury. When Darcy found out she laughed so hard that she gave herself stomach cramps. And when she asked why he was called that, Phil just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Fury leaned back in his chair and looked his friend over. "I noticed that you've been a bit off tonight. Actually, you've been a bit off since you've gotten back from the last mission. You've been keeping up with your doctors appointments, right?"

"Yessir," Phil replied with a nod. Fury might only have one eye but it seemed to make him more perceptive and aware on things going on around him. Did he know about him and Darcy? Phil started to sweat bullets just thinking about the possibility.

"Good. Just make sure you don't skip out any of them. We don't want another incident happening," Fury said with a slight shake of his head. The incident that he was referring to was when Phil returned to work shortly after his werewolf senses returned back to normal human ones. The senses might have left but they were replaced with nasty aggression side effect. One day when he and Agent Morrison had gotten into a heated argument, Phil had snarled at the man, grabbed him by his neck collar, and shoved him up against the wall. It took three agents to pull him off of Morrison. Phil was sent to the med bay and had a million test run on him. Now, he had to get shots every three weeks to balance his hormones out. Two more rounds, and hopefully, he'll be back to normal for good.

Of course, Darcy said that aggressive Phil was super hot and was hoping for a repeat of 'Feral Phil' bedroom fun-time. It didn't happen, Phil wouldn't let it.

Fury shuffled through some papers on his desk, looking for something. "Oh, and before I forget," he said finally finding what he was looking for and handed it over to Phil. "I know you said you were curious on how Miss Martin and her daughter are doing after you and Agent Lewis were pulled out of Shady Oaks. I've compiled an update for you."

Phil looked down at the file and nodded. The report wasn't really for him, but Darcy had been curious to what happened to Annie and her mother, so Phil asked if he could get a status update. Hopefully, this would win him a few points to get back on her good side. "Thank you, sir," Phil said, tucking the file under his arm.

Fury nodded and looked at the clock. "Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Are you coming in tomorrow?"

Phil hesitated. He had planned on taking tomorrow off to do something with Darcy, but wouldn't say no to Fury if he needed him to come in. "Do you need me to?" he asked.

Fury shook his head. "Not unless you want to help with the overhaul of our security systems? Stark's implementing some new upgrades tomorrow morning."

Phil smirked. "I think I'll sit this one out. I want to make a few adjustments to my mission just incase Agent Ward needs to be brought in."

"Alright, you're dismissed," Fury said with a nod. "Thanks, Phil."

"Thanks, sir," Phil replied as he left the office. He glanced down at his watch–It was after nine now. It was about an hour drive to the city, maybe if he rushed he could still get to the party. He picked his pace up and hurried out to his car.

* * *

Drinks were flowing and the music thumping as the Barton/Lewis Halloween party raged on. Around ten-thirty even more people showed up. A lot more than Darcy had expected; some of them were Clint's friends, but most of them were Tony's. There were more scantily clad women there than Darcy had ever seen in one room. Pepper looked overly thrilled that her boyfriend seemed to invite every wannabe playmate bunny that he knew. Bruce Banner was there, sans costume, he stood over in the corner of the room munching on plate of pretzels and baby carrots. Clearly, he wasn't the party boy either. Natasha (wearing kitty ears and her uniform) got into a drinking contest with two of Clint's buddies and so far she was winning. One of them had already passed out. It wasn't a bad party, but if would be a helluva lot better if Phil had bucked up and came.

Oh well, Darcy tried to make the best of it. She was already two drinks into Clint's special brew and she had a happy buzz. She wasn't twerking her ass off yet, but she was pretty damn close.

You're having another one?" Clint asked as he watched Darcy dip into the alcohol again.

"Hell yeah! It's a party," she giggled and took a drink. "When are we doing shots?"

Clint laughed. "You think you're going to be able to do shots after all those drinks?"

"I can hold my liquor, Barton," she said tripping over the rug and then giggling some more. "Opps! That'll come right out," she said looking at the green stain on the white carpeting. Darcy paused and smiled as she listened to the song that started blasting loudly. She giggled, took a drink, and started to dance.

Clint smirked, watching his friend dance around. She might not have her guy tonight but at least she was still having fun. As soon as Darcy climbed up on one of the tables, he cringed. "Uh-oh. Hey, Darce? You might wanna get down from there," he said, offering his hand to her.

"Hell, no way, Clint," she said in a slurred speech. She shook her shoulders and wiggled her behind, which elicited a few cat calls from a group of guys. "I'm having fun!" she squealed.

"Yeah, take it off, Tink!" Some guy yelled.

Tony Stark waved a dollar bill at her, and Pepper smacked his hand. "Ouch, Pep!" he laughed.

"Don't egg her on, Tony." Pepper looked at her boyfriend with a warning look. "She needs to get down from there before she falls and hurts herself."

Tony tucked the dollar back into his pocket and grin. "Let the girl have some fun. Who is she by the way?"

"Agent Darcy Lewis. She's friends with Clint," Pepper said, smoothing the wrinkles from her princess dress. "She's the one that helped organize the party,"

"Not bad," Tony said looking at Darcy again. Pepper cleared her throat and arched her eyebrow. He turned to his girlfriend and smirked. "I meant she pulled off a pretty good party. Honey, I only got eyes for one girl. And that's you. Hence, why I'm dressed up like your prince."

Pepper smirked back. "Yeah, well, when your eyes stop wandering, I'll start to believe it." She knew he wasn't going to cheat on her, but Tony still had an eye for pretty women. It didn't bother Pepper too much anymore, she knew what she was getting into when she got involved with him.

"Excuse me," Clint said as he pushed between Tony and Pepper. "Darcy, give me your hand before you fall," he said, reaching for her hand. Some asshole yelled something derogatory at Darcy, and Clint started to get pissed.

"Aww, c'mon, Clinton! Lemme dance!" Darcy snorted.

"That's not my name, and you need to get down, Darce," Clint said pulling her off the table and back down onto the floor.

"Yous is jus as fun as Agent No Fun," she poked her finger into Clint's chest. "I wanna drinky drink," she said picking up a random cup from a table.

"No more drinky drink for you, missy. You're cut off," Clint said, prying the cup from Darcy's hand. "I think you need to sit down a rest. Maybe drink some water?"

"Sheesh, I'm fine, Satan," Darcy snorted as she pointed to Clint's devil horns. "You pick a good costume."

"Come with me," Clint said waving his hand for him to follow him over away from the crowd. When he looked back Darcy was grinding up against somebody in a full gorilla costume. "Oh shit ..." he muttered walking over quickly to her and pulling her away from the gorilla.

"Hey!" Darcy yelled and yanked her hand out of his. "Lemme go!"

"You do realize you were just grinding your ass against that gorilla's crotch, right?" Clint asked. He walked her over to a chair and forced her to sit down.

"I'm jus havin' fun." She had her eyes closed, wiggling back and forth on the chair.

"Here's some water," Natasha said walking over and handing Clint a bottle. She sat down on the chair next to Darcy and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Darcy, do you need to lie down?"

"It's all good. I'm all good. I gotta pee ..." Darcy laughed and snorted.

"I'll walk her over," Natasha said standing up and started to help Darcy up off her chair.

"I'm good. I just fly over. I got wings like a pretty butterfly," Darcy giggled and shook her sparkly wings. She stood up unsteadily and then stumbled, catching her fall against Natasha. "Damn, girl... You're right, Clint. She do gotta nice rack," Darcy giggled.

"Nice rack?" Natasha raised her eyebrow at a blushing Clint.

"She's drunk. Kids say the damnest things when they're drunk," he said scratching his head.

"I'm gonna pee now," Darcy giggled and stumbled off to the restroom. It took her a couple of minutes to find the bathroom and when she got there she had trouble deciding which door to go into. When she walked in and saw the urinals, she knew she picked the wrong one. So she stumbled into the other restroom and went about her business. Getting her sparkly tights back up was a bitch, but she managed finally. Darcy looked in the mirror as she washed her hands, her eyes were glassy and she had a nice red flush across her face. "You look good, girl!" she pointed at her reflection the mirror and then stumbled back out into the deserted hallway.

"S'kay ..." she glanced in both directions trying to figure out how to get back to the party. That's when she bumped into the gorilla again. He put his hands on her shoulders and held her so she couldn't move. "Listen, here, bud. I hada nice time grindin' on you, but I gotta man," Darcy pointed her finger at his gorilla mask. "S'back off! Unless you wan your hairy monkey ass tasered, bitch!" she said shaking her finger at him.

The gorilla let her go and then reach for the mask, pulling it off.

"Fuck ... no ways. Oh my god, you look jus like my boyfriend," Darcy said looking up at the mask-less gorilla man.

"It is me, Darcy. God, you're wasted," Phil shook his head a little disapprovingly, but his lips were twitching upwards slightly. They had been dating for almost four months and Phil had never seen her like this. He had seen her tipsy off a bottle of wine they would share, but never drunk.

It was quite a sight.

"Shit. For real?" Darcy reached up and placed her hands on the sides of his head. "Phil? I thought you was too good for parties."

"I thought I'd come incognito so we could spend a little time with each other. I wanted to surprise you." Phil said softly, placing his hands around her waist so she wouldn't tumble over.

"Guess I surprised you," Darcy snorted, leaning her head on the hairy gorilla suit.

"That's an understatement." Phil smirked, wrapping his arms tighter around his girlfriend. "How about I get you home? I'll have Clint drop you off at your place?"

Darcy looked up at him and gave him a toothy grin. "How about no? I wanna go to your place so you can have some wild monkey sex with me," she giggled. "That's what I want."

He had actually hoped that she'd want to come back to his place. Not so he could have sex with her, but so he could take care of her. He knew she'd probably have a rough night and be waking up to a monster hangover tomorrow morning. He wanted to be there for her. "Yeah, I think we can arrange that-"

"No way! Coulson?" Clint called from the end of the hallway. He laughed and shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the other agent standing there with a gorilla suit on. "This is epic!"

Darcy looked over at Clint and grinned. "Clint, this is Phil, my boyfriend. Phil, this is Clint," Darcy introduced the two men to each other.

"She's wasted," Clint said shaking his head.

"Thanks for keeping her out of trouble," Phil said dryly.

"Hey, I tried. I had no idea that she was pounding back the liquor so hard," Clint said taking one of Darcy's arms and putting it around his shoulder. "I'll help her to your car. Nice suit by the way. Full-on monkey man, huh?"

"Thanks," Phil said, taking Darcy's other arm and wrapping it around his shoulder. "And this was the last costume they had. Well, it was this or a pregnant nun," he said as the two men began to walk Darcy slowly down the hall.

"Fuck, are we gonna have a threesome? 'Cause I am so into that right now. We can take turns doing each other," Darcy giggled and tipped her head back, dragging her feet as the two men pulled her along.

Clint looked over at Phil and winked. "Sounds like it might be fun,"

Phil raised his eyebrow and shook his head. "Don't even, Barton. Let's just get her home."


	4. The Best Cure for a Hangover

"Careful there," Phil said quietly as he helped Darcy out of the elevator and into the hallway of his apartment. Darcy giggled loudly and wrapped her arm tight around Phil's neck as she staggered towards his door. There were eight occupants on this floor besides himself, and he prayed that none of them would come wandering out here to see what all the commotion was. Phil liked that he kept a low profile his building, and he wanted to keep it that way. However, with Darcy laughing and bumping into walls, it was going to be rather hard. When they reached his door, he leaned Darcy up against the wall so that he could get his keys out.

"Damn, can't wait to get me against a wall, can you Agent Sexy?" Darcy snorted loudly, tipping her head against the wall. She continued to laugh once Phil got the door open and walked her inside.

Phil kicked the door shut with his foot and helped her towards the bedroom. He'd have to get her out of her fairy costume and into bed. He had ditched his costume after she puked on it as he and Clint were helping her into the car. Thank god she didn't throw up in or on Lola, or he may have freaked out just a little.

Darcy plopped down on the bed and lolled her head from side to side, giggling and saying things that made absolutely no sense. Phil hadn't bothered to turn a light on in the room, he wanted to keep Darcy as relaxed as he much as he could. He pulled his Captain America t-shirt (which happened to be Darcy's favorite shirt of his) out of the top drawer of the dresser. "Come on, sweetie, sit up," he said quietly as he pulled her up in a sitting position.

"Can't wait to get my clothes off, huh?" she giggled, trying undo his belt buckle.

"Darcy, let me help you." He scooted away from her grasp as he shimmied her out of her sparkly costume and tights. He slipped the shirt over her head, and then gently pushed her back on to the bed and pulled the blanket over her.

"Are you gonna do me?" Darcy giggled, rolling on to her stomach.

"You need some rest, Darcy. Come tomorrow you are going to have one hell of a hang over," he said as he stripped down to his undershirt and boxers. He crawled into bed next to her and she snuggled her face into his shoulder.

"Gonna be my sexy nurse?" she giggled.

"Somebody has to do it." Phil kissed the top of her head and shut his eyes. Hopefully, Darcy would fall asleep or pass out so he could get a little shut eye as well. He shifted in bed and sighed, trying not to think about the mound of paperwork that was sitting on his desk that needed to be done by tomorrow afternoon. If he got up before Darcy woke up maybe he'd have enough time to get it complete. Otherwise he'd have to face Fury's wrath.

Just as Phil was about to drift off to sleep, Darcy's giggle broke the silence in the room. "You know somethin'?" she said trying to sit up, but ended up falling back down on the pillow.

"Hmmm?" Phil said sleepily.

"You're a really nice guy," Darcy giggled as she tried to place a kiss on his lips but ended up kissing his nose instead. "Bestest guy ever," she said loudly and then started laughing again.

Phil chuckled silently and then pulled the blanket up over her again. "Thanks, Darce. Sleep now." He sighed as he looked over at the digital clock that read 3:47. If he could sleep until at least 6:30 he might be able to pass for a functioning human being. He'd also have to triple his coffee intake tomorrow morning. The room grew silent again and he tilted his head over to check if Darcy was out. Her breathing was steady and slow, and he closed his eyes as he tried to fall asleep.

"Phil?" Darcy's giggle broke the silence in the room, and Phil groaned inwardly.

"What?" he asked, trying not to sound annoyed by the fact that he was almost sleep again.

"You know somethin'?" she asked again.

"I'm the bestest guy ever?"

Darcy giggled. "That's not a word." She rolled over so that her face was just a couple of inches away from Phil's. She placed her hand on his cheek and he could smell her alcohol infused breath. "I love you," she whispered.

His breath hitched slightly. Those three little words where not the ones he had expected her to say. He closed his eyes and let the words replay in his head._ I love you. _She sounded so sweet and sincere when she said it. He wanted nothing more than to say it back to her. He loved her. The first time he knew when he loved her was back in Shady Oaks. They were at Branson's bar and he was teaching her how to perfect her dart playing skills. He was behind her, whispering in her ear how to hold the dart. His arms were wrapped around her waist and at that moment he knew he loved her more than anything in the entire world. The weird thing was that they hadn't been together all that long, but he was head over heels for her. When she saved his life from the werewolf, he knew he loved her even more. He had become so protective over her when he still had his heightened senses. At one point he felt possessive over her, which was a feeling that scared him. He never had thought himself to ever be one of those jealous possessive boyfriends, but any time another man checked her out he wanted nothing more than to rip into them. Thankfully, that feeling left once his senses turned back to normal, but he was still ever protective over her. He felt like he bonded to her in some ways. Even if it was a one sided bond; Darcy was a strong feisty young woman, and she belonged to no man.

Not even him.

He wanted to say those words to her though. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. She had said them to him, but he knew that she was drunk and didn't mean them. It was a sad thought, but the truth. He doubted that Darcy Lewis was in love with him after only a few months of dating. Phil contemplated telling her that he loved her, just to finally hear the words come out of his mouth. She wouldn't remember them in the morning anyhow, that he was sure of. He closed his eyes and started to open his mouth, but he stopped himself.

No.

He wanted to see her reaction when he told her that she was the most important person in his life. Hopefully, she'd say the same thing about him. He'd say it one day, just not tonight. Instead he brushed his hand across her cheek and she giggled.

"Phil," Darcy said a moment later.

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel good."

"I know, sweetie."

* * *

The 6:30 had come quicker than Phil wanted it to, but it happened, and he managed to pull himself out of bed and get into the shower. Darcy hadn't budged at all, which was good because she needed as much sleep as she could get. He had made an extra strong pot of coffee and was already on his third cup as he tried to plow through the report he had to type up. The lack of sleep and the caffeine of the coffee weren't doing much for his typing skills this morning though. His eighty words per minute average was more like forty as he tried to muddle through his report. A report that should have taken him twenty minutes to type up turned into over an hour, but at least he finished it. Now he just had to sign off on some papers and he'd be set for the day. At least he accomplished something today. He looked up from his papers when he heard a groan come from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Morning sunshine," he said as he looked at Darcy. Her hair was a tangled mess and her face was pale and puffy. "Rough night?" he asked with a little smile playing on his lips.

"I feel like a fuckin' semi hit me," she groaned, walking into the kitchen. She sat down across from Phil and dropped her head onto the table. "I'm gonna kill Barton," she grumbled.

Phil got up and poured a cup of coffee and set it down in front of her. "You want something to eat? Eggs? Toast?"

"Ugh, please don't. The thought of food is making me sick," she said peeking up at Phil.

"You have to eat something," he said getting the frying pan out of the cabinet. "C'mon, I'll make you eggs and toast. Best hangover cure." He reached into the refrigerator and got out the eggs.

"How would you know?" Darcy mumbled, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

"I've had enough hangovers to know that it works," he smiled, cracking the eggs in the pan.

"Yeah, right," Darcy snickered, then groaned. "My head hurts so bad. I'm never drinking again. I can't even remember anything from last night. Wait. You were there ... in a monkey suit? Is that right?"

Phil chuckled as he cooked her eggs and made her toast. "I thought I'd surprise you. I got my meeting done with Fury and thought I'd still could make it to the party. By the time I got there you were dancing on table tops. Barton helped me get you here." He dumped the eggs onto the plate and grabbed the toast from the toaster. "Eat up," he said sliding the plate in front of her.

Darcy turned her face away from the food in disgust. "I can't."

"At least nibble on the toast." Phil sat down next to her and rubbed little circles into her back.

"I'll try," she said picking up the toast and taking a small bite. She looked up at him and smirked. "You have glitter on your face."

"Still?" Phil asked as he wiped his hand over his cheek. "I had a hell of a time scrubbing it off in the shower. I thought I got all of it though."

"Is it from me?" Darcy asked, taking another bite.

Phil chucked. "No, it's from the other fairy I slept with last night."

Darcy raised her eyebrow. "Whoa. Wait. Did we ... do it?"

"I was a perfect gentleman," he replied. "We just slept."

"I wouldn't have minded." Darcy set her toast down and rubbed her temples. "Fuck, I was pretty gone last night wasn't I?"

"Oh yeah," he agreed, taking a sip of coffee.

"Did I say any crazy shit?" she asked.

_You said you loved me._ Phil looked at her and smiled softly. "Just some silly things."

"Well just forget anything I said. What ever I said I didn't mean it," she said quickly and then took a sip of her coffee.

Phil looked down at the table and nodded. "Noted," he replied. Did she remember that she told him that she loved him? Was she embarrassed by it? If she did, she definitely didn't mean it. He forced a smile as his heart sank. Perhaps he was reading into the whole thing the wrong way. She probably had no idea that she even told him that she loved him. Maybe he should tell her right now how he felt about her. _Nope. Too soon. _He wanted to wait for the perfect moment, telling his girlfriend that he loved her while she was recovering from a hangover probably wasn't the best time. He watched her nibble on toast and poke at her eggs. Even in her post drunken state she was beautiful and perfect to him. He chuckled to himself; he really needed to get his hormones back in check, because these jealous, possessive, obsessive feelings about her were driving him crazy.

"I don't think I can eat anymore," Darcy said resting her head against her hand.

"Want some aspirin?" He got up and walked over to the cupboard and got on the a glass and a pill bottle.

"Got any Oxy?" Darcy smirked. "Or anything stronger? I know S.H.I.E.L.D's got the good shit."

He handed her a glass of water and two aspirins. "How about you take these and I'll go run you a bath?"

Darcy sat there for a moment and then nodded. "That would be nice.

* * *

Phil put a few drops of lavender oil in the warm running bath water. He grabbed the fluffiest towels he had and set them on the counter top just as Darcy walked in the bathroom. "Can you get in or do you need my help?" he asked as she started to pull her shirt off.

"I might need help get in. I'm sure I can managed, but my luck I'd slip and fall," she said tossing the shirt on the floor and proceeded to shimmy out of her panties. "Thanks Phil," she said as he took her arm and helped her get into the tub.

"Here's your body wash and scrubby thing. Can I get you anything else?" he asked as he started to step towards the door.

Darcy looked around at the bottle of product and shook her head no. "I think I got everything." She smiled at him and he nodded and turned away. "Phil?" she said quickly just as he stepped out of the bathroom.

"Yeah?" he asked, poking his head back in.

"Umm, would you," she started to say but then paused. "Would you wash my hair? I'd do it but-"

"I can do that," he said walking back into the bathroom. He reached into the cabinet and grabbed a cup so he could rise her hair and knelt down next to the bath tub. Washing a girl's hair was going on his list of firsts. Definitely one of the more sensual things he's done, so sensual that it sent a little tingle through his body soon as he touched her dark locks.

"My hair smells bad," Darcy said closing her eyes and tipping her head back so Phil could wet her hair.

"Well, you did throw up in it. I tried to grab all your hair out of the way before you hurled," he said with a slight smirk.

"At least I didn't puke on you," Darcy sighed when Phil's hands started to massage some sweet smelling shampoo in her hair.

"You did," Phil said as he gently lathered the soap in her hair. He was probably enjoying this way more than he should, but yeah, if she ever asked him to wash her hair again-he'd jump at the chance.

Darcy groaned. "I'm sorry."

"It's not a real relationship until your girlfriend pukes on you," Phil chuckled, reaching for the cup and filling it with clean warm water.

Darcy giggled and then sighed again when he gently poured warm water through her hair to rise the soap out. "I'm not going to deny that I'm not immensely enjoying this."

"Me either."

"New kink of yours? Hair washing?" Darcy grinned and cracked an eye open to look at him. "Man, I got it made. Free foot massages any time I want and now this? Lucky girl, I am." She was referring to the fact that he confessed that he had some what of a foot fetish when they were in Shady Oaks. He wasn't like a freaky foot guy or anything, but he did happen to like cute feet and toes. And Darcy's were perfect.

"If you ask me again to wash your hair, I won't say no," he said with a smile, glancing down at his watch to make sure he wasn't running late for work. At least he had all his paperwork in order, now if he could just make sure that he didn't fall asleep during the briefing ...

"I feel like Cleopatra or someone. You know like in one of those old timey movies where the queen is getting a bath from her man slave."

Phil arched his eyebrow. "You sure it wasn't a porno you were watching? I don't think I've seen any old movies like that." He ran his hands through her hair to make sure he got all the soap out. "And man slave? Is that what I am?"

Darcy laughed and looked over at him. "You're anything but. Except maybe in a few fantasies I've had," she said, sticking her tongue out playfully and waggling her eyebrows up and down.

He was too afraid to ask what these fantasies of hers consisted of, so he just smirked instead. "Oh," he said remembering what he wanted to tell her. "I know you were curious about what happened to Annie and Lindsey Martin after they were released from S.H.I.E.L.D's care, so I asked Fury if I could do a follow up."

"Really?" Darcy asked, sitting up in the tub. "I've been wondering about them every day since I last saw them."

_Of course you were. _Darcy sometimes acted like she had a hard exterior but she was very kind and caring. Phil knew that Darcy's family life growing up wasn't very stable, so she had to put on tough armor to keep herself from being so vulnerable. Her father was a drunk who cheated on her mother a lot. He left them in the dead of winter with no money and no place to live. Her mother wasn't any better, telling Darcy that she resented having her. Darcy isolated herself and concentrated on her academics. It paid off because she got a full scholarship into Culver University. In some ways Phil wished that she had never caught his eyes to recruit into S.H.I.E.L.D. He wondered what kind of woman she would have become if she would have just followed a college path. There were days when Phil resented the fact that he had meddled in her life. Most days, though, he was glad that he did, because he loved having her at his side.

"Are they okay?" she asked.

"They're doing fine. After they ..."

"Had their memories erased by us," Darcy said dryly.

"Part of their memories. The bad ones. The ones that involved Jack and being poisoned," Phil corrected. Darcy had a thing about S.H.I.E.L.D being able to wipe out memories. Phil didn't exactly agree a hundred percent either, but didn't have as much of a problem with it as she did. Maybe because he knew it was one of the tamer things S.H.I.E.L.D does. He definitely wasn't going to get into all of that with her. She wouldn't be ready for all of that for a very, very long time, and he was glad of it.

"Okay, so?" Darcy said eagerly.

"I looked into Lindsey's history and found out that she used to work for a software company until she married Jack. Well, after doing some research I found a new start up company in a small town in Idaho, that was looking for someone with her qualities. I got contacted them, dropped some information on her, and they seemed interested. I wasn't sure if they hired her until Fury gave me the status report last night. And, I'm happy to say that as of last week, she and Annie moved to Idaho to start their new life."

Darcy smiled. "That's awesome! Wait, another small creepy-ass town?" she frowned for a moment. "Fuck. Welcome to Night Vale," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Phil chuckled. "No, I checked into it. No freaky stuff going on there," he reassured her. "Annie started her new school and already made a few friends. They're doing good, Darcy. There isn't a day that goes by where I think of how brave you were to rescue them. You gave them life."

"Oh, fuck," Darcy looked away and wiped at her eyes. "Stop it. Don't you dare make me cry, Coulson."

He smirked. "Sorry. I'm just very proud of you." He let his hand slip into the water and then pulled it out quickly. "Water is getting pretty cold." He stood up and got a towel ready for her.

"It is getting frigid," she said as she stood up.

Phil watched her stand up, wet hair cascading over her shoulders, bubbles sliding down her body, he couldn't help but grin. "It's like Aphrodite rising out of the sea foam," he said, letting his eyes travel up and down her body.

"Stop it!" Darcy laughed as she stepped out of the tub and Phil wrapped the towel around her. "Are you checking me out?"

"Yeah," he grinned, placing a kiss on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Better-ish," she shrugged. "Head still pounding but the bath definitely helped a bit. I might be able to get through the day."

Phil nodded. "Good, because I have to go into the office today. I'll be home tonight though if you want to watch a movie?"

Yeah, that ...shit!" Darcy smacked the side of her head with her hand. "What day is it? Please tell me it's not the 1st of November."

"Yesterday was was the last day of October," Phil said scrunching his brows together. "What's up?"

"_Motherfucker_," Darcy swore and shook her head. "I'm meeting with Dr. Foster today at noon. Today is the first day I'm assigned to her and I have a fuckin' hangover. Not exactly how I wanted to go into this."

Phil nodded. "Well, you're mostly all right. You'll do fine. I'm sure she won't be wracking your brain with science questions." He swatted her behind playfully and smiled. "Now, I need to get ready for work too, pumpkin. So, if you don't mind ..."

"Okay, kick me out when I'm on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Not cool, Phil. Not cool." Darcy said putting her hands up and walking out of the bathroom.

"You'll be fine, Darcy," he said with a wink and then shut the door. He didn't have much time to ready for work, but even though the morning was chaotic, he still had enjoyed every minute of it.


	5. All Work and No Play

Phil pulled up to the curb and stopped the car. "You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked as Darcy grabbed her messenger, and opened the door. "I hate to drop you off two blocks from work. I'm more than okay with you driving in with me. If anyone asks I'll tell them you had car trouble."

"I'm fine. Besides, I think walking a couple of blocks will do my head good," she replied giving her man a small grin. Darcy wished that they could have just stayed at his place today. It was the perfect weather for snuggling up on the couch, watching movies, and recovering from a monster hangover. Clint had texted her about ten times this morning and she had not got back to him yet. Darcy wasn't mad at him or anything, she just hadn't had anytime to chat.

Darcy watched as Phil rubbed the side of his head and close his eyes. He had only gotten a couple of hours this morning and it was all her fault. If she hadn't been a dumb ass and drank herself into a hot mess, he wouldn't be so tired. He played the part of 'boyfriend of the year' this morning and nursed her back to a semi functioning state. She reached over and touched his leg, and looked into his eyes. "The question is, are you okay?"

He gave her his famous tight lipped smile and nodded. "I'll manage." He fidgeted with something on the dash then drummed his fingers on the arm rest.

"Do you go to the doctor today?" Darcy asked. Phil had been going to see the S.H.I.E.L.D doctors ever since they got back from Shady Oaks. At first it was for this heightened sense problem that he got from being attacked by a werewolf. After those seem to balance back to normal, they were replaced by a nasty aggressive problem. She noticed it right away when Phil seemed to acting a lot moodier than she had ever seen him before. He had gotten snappy with her and even attacked another agent at work. After another week spent in the medical unit they discovered that his hormones were out of whack. They prescribed shots for him to take every two weeks and hopefully by the end of the treatments he would be back to his old Phil-self. Darcy hated to admit that moody-Phil was sort of hot though. It was like that little bit of feral-ness that he had before was still there. Not to mention when he when he was getting close to his next round of shots, he was more sexually charged than usual.

Which was a big plus in her book.

"I go tomorrow," he replied with a thin smile. He looked at his watch and then back to Darcy. "We better get going or we're both going to be late." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Darcy smiled and brushed her lips against his before he pulled away. "Will I see you tonight?"

"I have to supervise a night jump tonight, so I won't be home until late. I may just even crash here depending on what time we get done." He brushed his hand through a lock of her hair. "Hope everything with Dr. Foster goes well."

Darcy nodded and stepped out of the car. "I'll text you later. Have a good day, babe." He waved and she shut the door and watched as he drove off towards the headquarters. With a sigh, she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and started walking.

* * *

"Did you not get my texts?" Clint said soon as he saw Darcy walk in the doors. He tossed his Mountain Dew bottle in the recycling bin and walked over to his friend. "I'm surprised you're still alive after last night."

"I got your texts," Darcy said taking her coat off. "Figured I'd just talk to you at the office today. And, if it wasn't for Phil, I'd still be passed out in a puddle of my own puke somewhere. I swear, he gets the 'best boyfriend' award." She walked over to her cubicle and hung her coat up, then looked at her watch.

"You were wasted last night," Clint smirked as he leaned up against of the edge of her desk.

"Yeah, thanks to your special brew and I still feel like shit," Darcy said with a roll of her eyes. "So did I miss anything crazy? Did you hook up with anyone? Tasha?" Darcy raised her eyebrow and tapped her pencil on Clint's knee.

"No hook-ups. Tasha left shortly after you did, said she had to get up early for training today," Clint said as he tried to snatch the pencil away.

"You need to tell her before she gets with Captain America or someone," Darcy said turning back to her computer. She punched a few keys and brought up a screen. "So nothing else happened?"

"Just a party. I think it went pretty well, though. You just need to lay off the booze next time," he joked. "And, do you remember telling Phil and I that you wanted a threesome with us?" he laughed.

Darcy stopped typing and looked up at Clint. "No. I said that?" she laughed. "What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything. I don't think he was really into it."

"Where you?" Darcy raised her eyebrow in question.

Clint cleared his throat. "Hey listen, Coulson is a foxy man, but I don't swing that way. However, if I was a woman ... Hell yeah."

"A foxy man?" Darcy snorted. "You know I'm going to tell him you said that."

"Please," Clint said with a wave of his hand. "I'll tell him that right now." He pulled out his phone and typed a message and sent it off to Phil. A couple seconds later his phone chirped and he smirked.

"Oh god what did he say?" Darcy asked with a grin on her face.

"He said, 'What the hell, Barton?'" Clint laughed.

Darcy grinned and then groaned. "Shit, I have to get going down to the labs," she said looking at her Hello Kitty clock on her desk.

"What, you're a scientist now?" Clint asked, arching his brow.

"Remember I told you that I'm working Dr. Foster," she said, getting up from her chair.

"Oh boy." Clint shook his head.

"Oh boy, what?"

"I heard she's a bit high-strung and, well, a bit neurotic. That's what I've heard around the base anyway," Clint yawned.

"Awesome. Just what I want," Darcy muttered as they began to walk down the hall. "You have plans tonight? Do you want to grab some dinner after work?"

"Can't. I've got a night jump scheduled. Phil's supervising it."

"Just supervising it, right? He's not jumping." Darcy looked over at Clint.

"Oh, no, he's jumping too. How else do you think we're getting into Bagalia?"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me? Now I have to worry about his parachute not opening?" Darcy wasn't happy with the thought of her boyfriend falling a billion miles an hour to the earth and going splat.

"He's done it before ..."

"When? Like twenty years ago?" Darcy asked.

Clint shrugged. "I'm sure it's like riding a bicycle." They stopped when they got to the hallway that led down to the science department.

"You'll watch over him right?" Darcy asked.

"Of course. I won't let him go splat. I promise."

"I mean when you guys are in Bagalia also. Please don't let anything happen to him," Darcy said in the most sincere voice Clint had ever heard her speak in.

Clint grinned and looked at his best friend. "You love him, don't you?"

Before Darcy could answer the doors burst open and a young man and woman came rushing out of it. "Ooohh ... it's oozing all over! Fitz, hurry up!" A woman with a British accent laughed as she carried one end of something that looked like a giant worm that was dripping pink slime all over the floor.

"I'm walking as fast as I can go! Excuse us, outta the way! Giant pink smelly alien slug thingy coming through ..." the young Scotsman yelled to Clint and Darcy as he carried the other end of the creature.

Darcy and Clint both smushed up against the wall and pinched their noses as the two scientists rushed past them. They watched them carry whatever the hell it was down the hall and disappear through the next corridor. "God, this department is so weird," Darcy muttered, making sure she didn't step in the ooze.

* * *

"Come in," Phil called loudly. The door to his office opened up and a dark haired man stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "Have a seat Agent Ward," Phil said without looking up from his computer. The agent walked over and sat down across from Phil's, crossing his leg over and folded his hands on his lap. Several minutes passed by and then finally Phil looked up.

"I know you've heard about the team going to Bagalia," Phil said, leaning his arms on his desk.

"Yessir," Agent Ward replied.

"Director Fury has recommended you to possibly replace Agent Barton on my team."

"Really?" The agent sat up a bit straighter in his chair.

"Only if I can't find someone to replace Barton on the mission that Fury needs him for. The team consists of-"

"Agent Romanov, Agent Dorchester, with yourself as S.O. I'm familiar with the roster. I've been interested in the mission for a while now. I think Director Fury has made the right choice with replacing Agent Barton with myself, sir."

Phil forgot how cocky and sure of himself Agent Ward was. It was both a good and bad quality to have in his opinion. He would have to admit that Ward was an excellent agent. He ranked second only to the Black Widow in espionage. Of course, there was no better shot in S.H.I.E.L.D than Agent Barton. And, Phil really needed an expert marksman with him. "We're running through some practice drills tonight. I want you to start training with us just in case I need to bring you in," Phil said marking a note down on a piece of paper.

Agent Ward nodded. "I'll be there, Sir."

"Good. Meet me, Barton, Romanov, and Dorchester in hanger B at 1100 hours. We'll be running through a few night jumps." Phil slid a file over to Ward. "That's the mission details. I suggest you familiarize yourself with it before tonight."

Ward picked up the file and nodded. "We'll be parachuting into Bagalia then?"

"There's a flat area right on the boarder where we can safely land. From there we'll meet up with a transport that will take us into the heart of the capital. Once inside we'll have to get into ExxNorth Industries where the object of interest is being kept."

"This object, sir? What exactly are we dealing with?"

"From what we've been hearing for the last few months is that Doctor Constantine de Soto has been developing a weapon which uses gamma radiation and possibly some sort of alien technology to power it. If detonated the effects would cause mass destruction. Agent Dorchester estimates that it could possibly take out eight-five percent of the United States if detonated here. So you can see why we're on high alert. We'll see you tonight, agent." Phil said, giving Ward the 'you're dismissed' look.

"I'll be ready, sir." Ward stood up, tucking the file under his arm and exited Phil's office. Phil watched him go and when he was alone in his office again, he picked up his coffee, took a sip and then went back to work.

* * *

Darcy had gotten lost two times in the Science department. Once she ended up in some weird laboratory with a screeching monkey and some parrot that she swore it called her a 'skank.' Then she found herself in a small room filled with all kinds of weird electrical conduits. Finally after wandering around for a few more minutes she found the lab where Dr. Foster was. Darcy pushed open the door gently and walked in. Dr. Foster was leaning over a large table that had a whole bunch of maps spread out all over it. "Dr. Foster?" Darcy said quietly, being careful not to startle the petite woman.

There was no response, just a slight muttering about 'electromagnetism' or something. Clearly, the doctor was immersed in her work and didn't even know Darcy was behind her. "Dr. Foster?" she said a bit louder this time.

"Hmm?" the doctor mumbled and then turned around. "Oh, sorry. Are you Agent Lewis?"

Darcy did her best to smile. "Yep. Agent Darcy Lewis. It's an honor to meet you," she said sticking her hand out.

"Oh, you're familiar with my work?" Dr. Foster perked up a bit and shook Darcy's hand.

Uh, yeah," Darcy lied. "Your work on that ..."

"Einstein-Rosen Bridge."

"Yeah, that," Darcy smiled. "That was-"

"It's okay." Dr. Foster turned back to the maps. "I was hoping that S.H.I.E.L.D would at least assign an assistant to me that had some knowledge astrophysics or at least heard of me."

"I heard of you. I signed up for one of your lectures at Culver University." Which was true, she did signed up for one but skipped it at the last minute when Devon Anderson asked her to go make out.

"You went to Culver?" Dr. Foster asked, turning around.

"Yep. Political Science major." Darcy set her bag down on the chair next to the table.

"What year did you graduate?"

"Um, I didn't," Darcy said, cringing just slightly. Dr. Foster had ready thought her useless, she must really think little of her now that she was a college drop out. "I was recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D before I graduated."

"And your skill set is?"

Darcy tried not to show her anger. "I'm good with computers. I file like a boss. I can-"

"You're good with computers?"

"Yeah. Real good. Like _hacker_ good," Darcy replied.

"Good. Because I'm not. I'll need you to catalogue everything into the computer for me," the petite woman said with a nod. "And you can call me Jane."

Darcy smiled. Maybe this was going to work out after all. "Great. You can call me Darcy. So where do you want me to start?"

"Can you get me some coffee?" Jane said holding out an empty mug.

_Bitch. _Darcy mentally rolled her eyes, but took the mug and smiled. "Of course I can. How do you take it?"

"Black with lots of sugar. Like three packs."

"You take it the same way my boyfriend does. Well, maybe not that much sugar." Suddenly she wanted nothing more to go to Phil's office and make out with him. Usually she'd make it a point to pass by his office a couple of times just so she could get a look at his face. Now that she was in _'land of the weird'_ for god knows how long, she would have little time to do that. "Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes and we can get down and dirty." Darcy forced another smile and wandered out of the lab.

"Hey stranger," Darcy whispered as she came up behind Phil in the cafeteria. He turned to her and gave her the smallest smile.

"Agent Lewis. How is everything going with Dr. Foster?" Phil asked as he filled his coffee cup.

"Well ..." Darcy rolled her eyes. "She knows I know nothing about astrophysics and I'm a college drop out. So things are going pretty well, I think. I mean, she gave me the challenging task of getting her coffee."

Phil's eyes twinkled, which meant he was amused. "I'm sure things will get better, agent."

"Yeah, well see." Darcy poured coffee into the mug and grabbed the sugar. She looked over at Phil and smirked. God, she wanted him bad right now. It was so hard to keep playing this game. "So how is your day going?"

"As well as it can," Phil gave her a tight smile.

"And you're feeling okay?" Darcy whispered, looking directly into his eyes.

He didn't say anything but he nodded his head slightly. He glanced down at his watch and looked back at Darcy. "Excuse me, I have a meeting I need to get to."

"Okay," Darcy said with a bit of sadness in her voice. She knew that this was all an act between them, that he really didn't mean to be curt with her at work, but still it stung when it seemed like he had no interest in her.

"Have a good day." He nodded and walked out of the cafeteria.

Darcy sighed and turned around smacked into someone, spilling coffee all over the place. "Oh shit."

"Damn it." An angry voice grumbled. "Why don't you pay attention to where you're going?"

"Sorry!" Darcy glared up at the dark haired agent. She looked at his I.D badge. "_Agent Ward._ But when you walk up behind someone like a fricken' ghost, how am I supposed to know you're there?" Darcy grabbed some napkins and started to wipe up the mess.

Ward grumbled and dabbed at the brown spot on his blue shirt. "Coffee is hot, you know. It burns skin. And I don't have an extra clean shirt here, so thanks."

_What an asshole. _

"Really? Coffee is hot? I did not know that," Darcy said rolling her eyes. "I said I'm sorry, okay. It's not like I purposely bump into people to spill coffee all over them."

He huffed and looked at her badge. "Oh, you're Lewis."

Darcy huffed this time and put her hands on her hips. "And what does that mean?"

"It means exactly what you think it means."

"That I'm a snarky badass?" Darcy smirked as she made Jane another cup of coffee.

"I don't know about the badass part," he smirked back. He looked down at his shirt again and then back up at Darcy. "So do you know how to get coffee stains out of a shirt?"

"Yeah, put on your suit jacket to cover it up," Darcy grinned at Ward and then headed out of the cafeteria to the lab

* * *

Darcy stomped back into the lab with Jane's coffee and set it down on the table next to her. "Back."

"I know, you sounded like a herd of elephants coming in." Jane looked up at Darcy and raised her eyebrow.

"Well, I just had an encounter with a jackass of an agent. To be fair though, I did spill your coffee all over him." Darcy shook her head and sat down at the computer. "Fuck, I forgot I was going to make myself a cup while I was there." She wanted to bang her head on the keyboard.

"I'll probably need another one in about twenty minutes," Jane said as she looked into a magnifying glass as one of the charts on the table.

"Oh, hell to the no. If you're going to send me out for coffee every twenty then I'm bringing a coffeemaker with me tomorrow. That way we can make it in the comfort of our own lab."

"Now," Jane said looking up at Darcy and smiled. "That's a good idea."

Darcy smiled. "Okay, boss lady." She pulled up a screen on the computer. "So what's the super sneaky project you're working on?"


	6. When Things Start to Fall Apart

"We're going to run through three jumps tonight," Phil said as he snapped a buckle around his waist. He looked up at his team as they secured their gear and checked their parachutes. It had been a while since he had been on a jump, let alone a night jump, but he wasn't going to let that faint nervous feeling get to him. Jumping was one of his least favorite things to do, that's one of the reasons he switched from a field agent to a handler.

"Any surprises on the ground, Sir?" Agent Dorchester asked, tying her blonde hair back to keep it out of her face.

Phil nodded. "I've set up a different scenario each time we land. I picked this team because I believe you're the best for job," he said leaning up against the wall of the plane. "Don't make me second guess myself," he glanced at Ward and then back to the others.

There was a squawk over Coulson's earpiece, and he put his hand over his ear so he could hear over the roar of the engines. "Go ahead."

"Sir, we're just about in range. ETA five minutes." A woman's voice called over the earpiece.

"Thanks Agent May," Phil replied, running his hand over the black standard issued SHIELD uniform. He couldn't even remember when the last time he wore one of these was. He turned around to pick up his duffle bag and there was a bright flash behind him almost immediately. "Barton, did you just take a picture of me?" he asked arching his eyebrow at the agent.

"Um, nope," Barton smirked, putting his phone back into his pocket. Natasha rolled her eyes and kicked Clint's boot with hers. Phil shifted his eyes from Clint to Natasha and shook his head slightly. Somehow he had a feeling that the picture of him in a tight black uniform was going to end up being sent to his girlfriend.

"I'll jump first, Sir." Ward stepped up to the door and looked Phil straight in the eyes. "I was just on a night jump not too long ago. I can lead off."

Phil nodded. "Alright. Jumping order will go Ward, Romanov, Dorchester, Barton, then myself. Stay in contact with each other. Once you land get to the rendezvous point. We'll group up there and move through the drill I've set up. Get back to the plane as fast as possible, and we'll run through it again. I'm looking for speed and accuracy. When we get into Bagalia we won't have a lot of time before they figure out we've breached their boarders."

"We're in range, Agent Coulson," Agent May's voice called over the earpiece. "Happy landings."

"Ward, you're up." Phil said as he pressed the door release button. There was loud 'whoosh' and the roar of the wind filled the cabin.

"See you on the ground, Sir," he said sliding his night-goggles over his eyes, and without any hesitation he jumped out of the plane and began his decent to the ground.

After Natasha and Dorchester jumped, Clint made his way up to the edge of the plane to take his turn. "Barton." Phil's hand clamped down on the agent's shoulder. Clint stopped and started to open his mouth to speak, but when he saw Phil's expression he closed it immediately. "If you're not going to take this mission seriously then I'm not sure I want you on it. I don't need any goofing off. I need you on this mission," Phil said, his tone rather icily.

Clint nodded. "Sorry," he apologized quickly and Phil let go of his shoulder. "Have a good jump, Sir." Clint straightened the strap on his suit, pulled his goggles over his eyes and disappeared into the inky black night sky.

Phil held on the railing as he watched Clint's faint dark shape get smaller and smaller until it could no longer be seen by the naked eye. He took a deep breath and took a step forward.

"Just like the old days, Phil." May's voice called from the cockpit entrance. "The plane's on autopilot, hovering. I just wanted to witness this," she said with a faint smile playing on her lips.

Phil chuckled. "It's been at least fifteen years since I've done this, Melinda."

"Eighteen actually. The winter of '95-"

"That's right. You, me, and Sitwell jumping into Chechnya in the dead of night. Air so cold our asses were like ice blocks," he chuckled, shaking his head. "We were a lot younger then."

"Don't start questioning why you're leading this team." Melinda crossed her arms and gave him a stern look.

"I'd be a lot happier if you were coming."

"You know I don't do combat missions any more, Phil. You're lucky I agreed to step away from my office job to fly you there." Melinda tipped her head to the side. "So you going to jump or what?"

Phil had asked Melinda repeatedly if she would think about coming out from her desk job to join the mission. She flat out told him 'no' every time. He even thought about making it an order instead of a request, but decided against it. She was an excellent agent, though and her expertise would have really benefited the team a lot. He gave her a slight smile, sliding his goggles over his eyes. "See you soon." And with that he stepped over the edge of the plane.

* * *

Darcy yawned as she unlocked the door to Phil's apartment. She had debated whether she would go to her apartment or his, her answer came quickly when she remembered that Lenny, the landlord's son, was there visiting. Lenny was 350 pound Italian party boy, who lacked any sense of manners, and his way with women sucked. His first words to Darcy were 'Baby, your pants must be made of mirrors because I can see myself in them.' Not exactly the way to win her over. So anytime she knew he was coming, she made sure she could hole up at Phil's place until he left. Of course, Phil thought Lenny's crush on her was hilarious and he teased her about it all the time.

She flipped on the light and tossed her bag in the corner of the room. It was after midnight and she was now just getting home from work. Jane had worked her all night long, it wasn't bad though. Surprisingly, Jane was actually kind of fun to work with. Aside, from her weird babbling and her spastic outbursts, she was funny and smart as hell. Darcy was learning all about wormholes and intergalactic stuff. Stuff she didn't even know existed until tonight. In fact, the reason SHIELD hired Jane to work for them was help with charting a wormhole that sporadically keeps opening and closing in different quadrants of the star system. Jane didn't go into full detail what SHIELD wanted with this wormhole, but Darcy guessed it had something to do with aliens or some crazy shit like that.

After grabbing a glass of wine from the kitchen, Darcy plopped down on the couch and checked her phone from any messages. It was unlikely that Phil would have texted her tonight, but she still hoped for it. She wasn't one of those crazy girls who needed their man to check in all the time, but it was still nice when she got one of those 'hey, sweetie' texts. Those seemed to be few and far now that they were back from Shady Oaks. Darcy took a sip of wine and scrolled down to her unread messages. She smirked when she saw one with 'Dat Ass' in the subject line. It was a picture message and she was almost afraid to open it. She prayed it wasn't another selfie of Clint's bare ass. It was funny the first time – a second not so much.

Her heart beat skipped when she opened it and saw Phil dressed in combat gear. He was standing with his back to the camera, the tight black uniform accentuating his muscular form, Darcy could hardly breathe. She had seen him naked lots of times, she had seen him in slim fitting suit pants, and even in jeans occasionally, but never in the standard SHIELD uniform. "Mmm ..." she mumbled, zooming in on his ass. She was close to making it her phone wallpaper but knew that it probably wasn't the best idea. She was definitely saving it in her photo album, though. Suddenly, an image of Phil taking her in that uniform popped into her head.

New Fantasy.

She could feel her face flush as she allowed the fantasy to start taking shape in her head. Oh god, she was starting to get uncomfortable now. It was almost one a.m, Phil said he wasn't going to be home until really early in the morning, _if he came home at all_. Which meant she couldn't wait on him to relieve her discomfort – She'd have to do it herself. Phil had watched her get off before, so if he just happened to walk in on her while she was in the middle of happy time it wouldn't bother her. He would probably find it incredibly hot and jump in on the action. Which would be totally fine with her.

Most women needed to think of some wild fantasy with some hot actor or musician to have a successful masturbation session. It used to be like that with Darcy too. She could never just get off while thinking of her boyfriend – that was, until Phil came along. One of her favorite things to do was to wear one of his unwashed button up shirts while she pleasured herself. The mix of the day old cologne and his natural scent that laced the shirt was enough to get her going. With the his scent close and the feeling of the soft cotton of the shirt against her bare skin, she could make herself come almost immediately. Darcy bit her lip and glanced at the clock again. She really should be going to sleep, but no way in hell could she sleep in this state. She was too hot and bothered for anything to stop her now. Quickly, she got up and headed into the bedroom to find one of his shirts. She stripped down and slipped the shirt on, buttoning only a single button that was right at her breasts. She ruffled her hair in the mirror and checked herself out. Too bad Phil was away tonight, he thought she was sexy as hell in his clothing.

She got comfy on the bed, propping herself on a few pillows, and grabbed her phone and flipped through a few candid photos of him she had taken. Ones that if he knew she had on there, he'd make her delete immediately. She settled on the one of his silhouette in the shower. It was her favorite because it was just steamy enough to blur him through the glass door, but not enough where she couldn't make out his muscular shape. Darcy closed her eyes and tilted her head, inhaling the scent of his cologne on the collar of the shirt. "Mmmm ..." she moaned quietly, sliding her hand slowly over her knee, down the top her leg until she reached her inner thighs. She had been wet since seeing Phil in that tight uniform, but now she was soaked. Fuck, this was going to be so good tonight.

Her phone chimed just as she moved her fingers into her center. "Fuck," she muttered, not wanting to break her concentration or open her eyes to see who the message was from. When it chimed again a second later, her eyes snapped open, and she grabbed the phone. She swore to god if this was some stupid text from Clint she was going to be pissed. It was Clint but there wasn't a stupid text attached to his name this time:

{{Got in an accident. At the HQ medbay now}}

Darcy's heart pounded in her chest as she typed a reply back to Clint.

{{What kind of accident? Is Phil OK?}}

After waiting for a few minutes with no reply, she jumped off the bed threw on her jeans and slip-on shoes. She grabbed a black sweater and her keys and ran out the door.

* * *

The entire drive to the headquarters was a blur. She didn't know if she was driving the speed limit or not. She didn't get pulled over so it really didn't matter in the end. The words _'got in an accident' _kept repeating over and over in her head. Her phone never chimed again so that caused her heart to feel like it was either going to burst out of her chest or stop beating altogether. Both were not were not comforting feelings.

By the time she got to the SHIELD security check station, she wanted to throw up. She drummed her fingers on the dash as she impatiently waited for the car ahead of her to move. "What the fuck is taking so long?" she muttered, looking down at her phone just to make she didn't miss a message. When she looked up out the windshield again, a SHIELD officer waved her to pull up.

"Good morning," the officer grumbled as he held out a scanner. Darcy nodded her head and held out her badge, which he scanned. "All clear, Agent Lewis." Darcy didn't even bother saying anything she just pulled away quickly and headed down the road to the medical facility.

* * *

"Can I help you?" a nurse asked soon as Darcy pushed open the doors to the medbay and walked up to the desk.

"Um ... I heard Agent Barton got injured. I'm here to check on him. Is he okay?" Darcy said in a rushed breath.

The nurse sighed and looked down at her paperwork. "Agent Barton is-" The phone rang and she picked it up. "Nurse Watson. What can I do for you?"

Darcy rolled her eyes and drummed her fingers on the desk. She gave the nurse the 'excuse me, you were helping me first' look. All she wanted to know is if Clint and the others were okay. Her mind went back to how hard it was when she tried to find out how Phil was doing from his werewolf scratches. These SHIELD nurses really needed a course in bedside manners. Or just people skills.

"Agent Lewis?" A voice called to her from across the hallway.

Darcy looked up and wanted to roll her eyes again. "Agent Ward." She said with a slight nod.

"What are you in here for?" Ward asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

_Well, aren't you Mr. Nosey?_ Darcy was about to turn back to the nurse when she noticed that Ward was dressed in a combat uniform. Maybe he was with Phil and the others? "I heard Agent Barton was brought in tonight. I wanted to-"

"We're back here," Ward said tilting his head towards a room.

Darcy grabbed her keys off the desk and hurried back to the room where Ward and the others were. The first thing she noticed when she walked into the room was Clint laying on a cot with his arm slung gently over his body. Natasha was at his side talking quietly to him. A cute blonde haired woman was sitting on a chair drinking a bottle of water. In the corner of the room Phil stood while a gorgeous looking Asian woman tended to scrape across his cheek. She could feel her heart begin to return to it's normal pace. "What happened?" Darcy asked looking up at Ward.

"Barton came down hard on his arm and broke it," he said and then took another sip of his coffee. "In several places. He'll be getting wrapped up in a few minutes. Guess, I'll be taking his spot on the mission."

_Damn it, Clint. _"Is everyone else okay? What happened to ... Agent Coulson?" she asked, shifting her eyes back to Phil. That woman was still touching his face, and she was grinning slightly at him ... and he was smiling back at her. Darcy could feel the jealously bubble up inside her.

"Agent Coulson just suffered a minor injury during one of the drills. Can I get you some coffee or something?" Ward asked.

"Depends," Darcy said with a smirk.

Ward furrowed his eyebrows. "On what?"

"Whether you're going to spill it on me as payback from earlier today," Darcy's smirk grew wider.

"Actually, that was yesterday," he said matter-of-factly.

"You know what I meant."

"Did I? Because there is a difference-"

"Oh my god! Are you even a real person? Are you a SHIELD robot?" Darcy said with a shake of her head.

"What is that-"

"Agent Ward, can you come here please?" a nurse asked. Ward narrowed his eyes at Darcy and gave her just the slightest smirk as he walked away.

_What an ass._ She thought walking over to Clint and Natasha. Phil hadn't noticed she was in the room yet. He still looked really preoccupied with _Mulan._ "Hey," she said softly walking over to Clint. "So Ward just told me you broke your dick." She fought back a smile when his eyes bugged out.

_"He what?!"_ Clint said a little louder than he probably should have.

Darcy snorted. "No, she laughed, shaking her head. "He said that you broke your arm. That sucks man. How are you feeling?"

"Felt like shit, but the painkillers are kicking in, so pretty _fan-fucking-tasic_ right now. I tried to text you-"

"Yeah, thanks for not answering _my_ texts! I thought the worst all the way here. I thought that the plane went down or someone's parachute didn't open." Darcy put her hands on her hips and glared.

"We're all fine, Agent Lewis," Natasha said with a little nod of her head. "Except for Barton." She placed her hand on his knee and gave it a small squeeze.

"Fucking Ward looks pleased with himself," Clint scowled looking over at the dark haired agent as he talked with a nurse. "Guess, he'll be taking my place on the mission unless my arm somehow miraculously heals before then. Phil's pissed."

Darcy glanced over at Phil and the other woman, and rolled her eyes. "He doesn't look pissed," she frowned. "Who's that woman?"

"Agent Melinda May," Natasha answered. "She used to be a field agent now she's pushing papers down in the administrative office. Damn shame too, she's an excellent agent. She agreed to fly us into Bagalia, but I know Phil wanted her on the mission as an operative."

Darcy watched Melinda wipe the blood off Phil's face. She said something to him and he chuckled which made her stomach tighten up. "Are they close or something?" she asked.

Clint looked down at his lap and said nothing, but Natasha answered. "They were together a long time ago, I guess. Friends now. I think there might still be something there between-"

Clint cleared his throat loudly. "Nat can you get me a bottle of water?"

"Sure," she nodded and wandered off. "Be right back."

Clint watched Natasha walk away and then looked over at Darcy. "There's nothing between Phil and Melinda anymore," he whispered. "He's with you now and I've never seen him happier. He's-" His eyes glanced down at her chest and he smirked.

"What?" Darcy glared.

"Nice shirt," he looked up and raised his eyebrows quickly at her.

"Oh shit," she said quietly, pulling her black sweater tighter around her. She had run out of the apartment so quickly that she forgot to change ... and put on a bra. "I ... was in such a rush to get here I just grabbed the first thing I could find-"

"You sit around in his clothes a lot don't you?"

_Well, I don't know about just sitting around in them._ Darcy shrugged. "When he's away sometimes I get lonely."

"Aww that's- _Ow FUCK!"_ he yelled, grabbing his broken arm with his other hand. The entire room fell silent and a nurse rushed over to him.

"Mr. Barton we're going to take you in now. The doctor is ready for you," she said helping him get up.

"Have fun," Darcy gave Clint a sympathetic look as he walked off with the nurse. She glanced over at Phil and he was staring intently at her. Melinda was over talking to Natasha and the blonde agent. He was giving her an inquisitive look, probably wondering why she was here. She gave him a quick smile and walked over to him. "Barton sent me a message saying that there was an accident. I was worried about him ... and I didn't know if there were any _other_ people injured, Sir."

Phil nodded. "Just Barton, unfortunately." His eyes told her that he wanted to say more but couldn't.

"Are you okay," she asked quietly looking at the scrape on his cheek.

"I'm fine. Just a very minor wound," he said looking intently into her eyes. Darcy knew that he had to keep up the Agent to Agent act, but there was something about his tone that was just very icy and cold. He had never sounded like that before, not even before their undercover mission to Shady Oaks.

"Are you sure, you're-"

"I said I'm fine," he said rather curtly. His eyes flicked down to her clothing and then back up to her face. "I think you missed a couple of buttons, Agent Lewis," he said quietly.

Darcy pulled her sweater around her more to cover up the shirt entirely, but she couldn't help but smile. "...I was missing you," she said so quietly that she wondered if Phil even heard her. "Like, _really_ missing you."

She expected him to give her a tiny smile or a little lustful look with his eyes, but there was nothing. Just a cold icy blank stare that sent a chill up her spine. He was going this aggressive side effect thing, she understood that. Tomorrow he'd be getting his treatment and his hormones would balance back out and he'd return to normal. He was just acting so weird all of the sudden. "Well, if you'll excuse me, Agent," he said with a slight nod and then he walked off over to May and the others.

"Yeah ... sure," Darcy said quietly. She stood there for a moment and watched him talk to the other agents before she decided that she wasn't needed or welcome here anymore. She walked quickly past Phil and out the doors of the medbay. She didn't let the tears fall from her eyes until she was safely in her car driving back to _her _apartment.


	7. Break Up or Make Up

Darcy didn't sleep at all that night; every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Phil's icy stare and hear his cold tone. So instead, she went into the living room of her tiny apartment and curled up on the couch to watch t.v. to try to get her mind off him. She ended up watching reruns of the X-Files and then some knife infomercial until the early hours of the morning. When the sun rose, she managed to make it to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a bagel. Her phone sat on the countertop and she picked it up while her coffee brewed to check if there were any messages.

Nothing.

Not that she expected that there was going to be anything. She sighed and tossed her phone back on the counter, then wandered back out into the living room with coffee and bagel in hand. The morning news was on now and they were talking about some science benefit Tony Stark was hosting later this month. An image of Pepper Potts flashed on the screen and Darcy sighed. Right at the moment she kind of envied the woman. She was tall and glamorous, got to run around and plan events for Tony. Of course, she had to also probably do a lot of unglamorous things too, like pick up Tony's dry cleaning, go out on hotdog runs for him, and who knew what else. Actually, a job like that right now sounded pretty fun. It was probably like when she started at SHIELD as a filing assistant; making phone calls, serving coffee, and filing a shit load of paperwork. Working with a neurotic Stark wouldn't be so bad, because she already dealt with a dozen neurotic SHIELD agents on a daily basis. Darcy took a sip of her coffee and leaned back into the couch a bit when there was a knock at the door. If it was Lenny, she was going to scream, and possibly punch him in the face. Last night she bumped into him in the elevator, he was coming home from partying and saw her crying. He tried to console her by trying to wrap his arm around her, but she wiggled away and shimmied out of the elevator soon as the doors opened.

There was another soft knock at the door and Darcy got up to answer it. She opened the door and Phil was standing looking a little more tired that usual. Her stomach knotted up at the sight of him. "Hey," she said quietly, swinging the door wider for him to come inside. He didn't say anything but he stepped inside and shut the door behind him gently.

Darcy wandered back over to the couch and sat down, unsure of what to say. "You want some coffee or a bagel?" she said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence between the two of them.

"I can't stay long," he said walking over to the chair opposite of the couch and sat down. "I have to go in for my treatment. I just wanted-"

"You know, you really hurt me last night," Darcy blurted out. She could feel the anger rising in her and she was having a hard time fighting it down. "I got a message from Clint saying there was an accident and I thought the worst had happened. I thought maybe you were hurt-"

"Darcy," Phil interrupted, the tone in his voice turning stoney as he looked at her with those icy eyes again. "You shouldn't have come last night."

Darcy got up off the couch and crossed her arms. "Everyone thought I was there to see Clint. Which I was! But I was also really concerned about you and wanted to see if you were okay, but it seems like your ex was already tending to your wounds," she huffed.

"My ex?" he arched his eyebrow.

"Yeah, Melinda May. Clint told me about her." It was Natasha that told her about Melinda but Darcy wanted to leave the Black Widow out of this. Otherwise, she'd be sleeping with one eye open for the rest of her life. "The two of you were acting like you were the only ones in the room."

Phil furrowed his brows slightly and stood up. "There's nothing between Melinda and I. We haven't been together in over ten years, Darcy."

"Maybe she's trying to rekindle the romance?" Darcy muttered with a roll of her eyes. She thought back to what Natasha said about Melinda and Phil possibly still having feelings for each other.

"Is this what this is about?" Phil asked, his voice steady and calm.

"It's part of it!" Darcy shouted. "You've been acting like a grade-A asshole for weeks now! I know you're going through some difficult shit with your hormones and this mission and all the other shit that's weighing on shoulders, but you've been hot and cold with me. One moment you're sweet and the next you're being a douchbag. It's like you don't give a fuck about me, and I don't know-"

Phil held his finger up to silence her.

"Don't you dare raise your finger at-"

"You think I don't care about you?" he interrupted her, raising his voice just slightly but it was no where yelling like what Darcy was doing. "Really? Darcy, I wore a _goddamned_ gorilla costume to your party the other night so I could be with you. Do you think I would have done that for anyone? That's not me. Of course, when I got there you were drunk off your ass."

"I got drunk because I was depressed that you were acting like a douche. I just wanted to have some fun. Forget about how much of an asshole you were being. If you would have just agreed to come along in the first place-"

"I had to go into work!" He narrowed his eyes a little bit. "Getting drunk and acting stupid over the fact that I couldn't be there because I was called into work is rather immature."

Darcy sucked in a deep breath and paced back and forth for a moment. "You didn't want to go to it in the first place. When I first mentioned that Clint and I were going to plan a party, you rolled your eyes!"

"How long are we going to argue about this goddamned party, Darcy?" he asked, his jaw clenched in anger. "Are you going to hold his against me-"

"It's not just the party, Phil!" Darcy threw her hands up. "It's everything! It's you! It's the job! We knew this relationship was going to take work, but he agreed we'd give it a try."

"We agreed we'd _try_," Phil placed his hands on the back of the chair and looked at Darcy.

"So what? What are you saying? That this isn't working and-"

Phil gripped the top of the chair and squeezed it. "I didn't say that, Darcy!" he snapped, and then inhaled deeply before turning away for a moment before looking back at her. "Do you not understand that my job has to come first? I am leading a small team into Bagalia, a very dangerous nation, to stop a biological/alien weapon from possibly destroying an entire country! My job has to come first. Stop acting like a little girl and start acting like a SHIELD agent." His tone was harsh and firm.

Darcy turned away from his gaze to fight back her tears. When she gained control over them she turned back to look at Phil. "I know that! I just don't see why you have to be so cold to me all the time when we're at work. It makes me feel like crap!"

"Darcy, you showed up at the medical center wearing one of my shirts. We're already risking so much with us sneaking around with each other. We can't draw any attention to our relationship. I did not work my ass off for twenty years to have my job thrown away because I'm fucking a junior agent!" He clenched his jaw tightly again.

"Is that all our relationship is? Just fucking?_ Jesus Christ, Phil!_ I thought we were more than that!"

"I didn't mean-"

"No, that's exactly what you meant! Goddamn it, you really are an asshole! A lying asshole," Darcy yelled, balling her fists up and shooting him a glare. "I really thought you were different. I thought you were a decent guy, but you're just as bad as any of the ones that I dated. Actually, you're worse! At least those assholes didn't lead me on by thinking that they cared about me!"

"Darcy-"

"Just stop. Don't try to explain–And you're checking your_ fucking_ phone now?" Darcy held her hands up in disbelief and shook her head, trying not to explode in anger as Phil pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked down at it. "Really, Phil? You_ fucking _can't wait two minutes?"

He looked up at her. "I have to go," he said putting his phone back into the pocket of his suit jacket.

Whatever," Darcy turned away from him and crossed her arms. "Obviously, this isn't important enough to-"

"We can-"

"Just go!" Darcy snapped, refusing to turn around and look at him. It was silent for a couple of seconds until she heard Phil start walking, closing the door with a bit more force than necessary, behind him.

* * *

"Have a seat Agent Coulson," Doctor Sanders said as he waved Phil to come inside his office. "I'll be with you in one moment."

Phil walked in and sat down on the exam table, the last thing he wanted to do today was have a physical and his last round of shots. He rather be in his office burying himself in paperwork or working out the last of the kinks of the Bagalia mission. Anything to keep his mind off the fight that he and Darcy just had. They had got into a few disagreements since they'd been dating but this was their first big blow out. He had tried to keep his cool, but she really let him have it. Some of the things she said he might have deserved, but not everything.

"How are you feeling today?" Doctor Sanders asked as he came over to Phil with a blood pressure cuff. He sat down and waited for Phil to roll his sleeve up. "I heard there was a small incident with your night jump?" He asked, placing the cuff on his arm.

"Agent Barton broke his arm. I got a few scratches on the ground but nothing major. Other than Barton, everyone did an exemplary job," Phil said, looking over as the doctor checked his blood pressure. He couldn't wait to see how high it was. It was probably through the roof.

"Hmmm," Doctor Sanders frowned slightly, and marked something down on Phil's chart. "Your blood pressure is a bit ... a lot higher than usual."

No surprise there.

"I've been prepping a lot for my mission. It's been-"

"Stressful," Doctor Sanders said looking up at Phil. "Other than the mission is there anything else that could be factoring in? Are you eating enough? Sleeping?"

_My girlfriend._

Phil shook his head. "Not that I can think of," he said as the doctor listened to his heart.

"Heart sounds good," the doctor said, marking that down in his chart. Then he went on with the rest of the physical. "The only thing else that it might be is your hormonal issues. I've been seeing a lot of improvement since you've been on the drugs. Have you noticed improvements?"

"I haven't felt as aggressive the last couple of weeks." And, thank the gods for that. He couldn't even imagine how he might have acted towards Darcy this morning if he wasn't on drugs. The thought scared him. "Is it strange that once in a while I still can hear things that I shouldn't be able to?"

"It's not strange for the enhanced senses to occasionally to come back. It might take a long time before the effects wear off entirely. We won't know more until we learn more about the species that attacked you." The doctor paused, and then looked up at Phil. "Of course, there is always the possibility that it's just engrained in your genetic makeup now. You might have these senses fading in and out for the rest of your life. It's definitely something we're going to monitor. I do have faith that drugs will balance your hormones back to normal. It's just been aggression you've been struggling with, right? No intense sexual desires? No bouts of extreme depression?"

"No depression," Phil replied.

Doctor Sanders looked up. "And the other?"

Intense sexual desires? Yes. He really didn't see the point to answering that question. Whether he did or didn't shouldn't matter. "No. Not at all," Phil answered.

"Alright," the doctor made a few more marks on the chart and then rolled his chair over to the counter and grabbed a syringe. "Okay, last round of shots." He got up of the chair and walked over to Phil. Phil held his arm out and the doctor injected the serum into him.

"Never been a fan of shots."

"Let's hope this is it, then," the doctor smiled. He tossed the syringe into the waste receptacle, and turned back to Phil. "Everything else but your blood pressure check out."

"Am I cleared for the mission then?" Phil asked. The worst thing was failing a physical right before a mission. It had never happened to him but he knew agents that had.

"You've got the all clear. I am going to prescribe a blood pressure pill, though. Let's see if we can get that down at a bit. Don't need you having a stroke," he said as he scribbled down the prescription down on a paper, and handed it to Phil. "And, Phil, I think after this mission ... I'm going to mark you down for light active field work."

Phil furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't–"

"You're in your mid-forties and the last couple of missions you've been on have been a bit more than you should be handling right now. I'm not banishing you to a desk job, but let's leave the high intensity missions for the younger guys."

Phil didn't like the sound of that at all. The way the doctor made is sound like he was some decrepit old man that couldn't handle field missions anymore. He sucked in a deep breath and nodded just slightly. " ... Okay." Arguing with a doctor wasn't going to do him any good, not at the moment anyway.

"I know that's not what you want to hear, but let's just see if we can get you back in peak performance first." The doctor gave him a reassuring smile. "If there are no more questions or concerns, you're free to go."

Phil nodded and then hopped off the table and headed out the door. The rest of work had dragged slower than he wanted it to. He was able to sign off on a bunch of reports that he had been meaning to get to all week. He took several trips down the cafeteria for coffee. The rest of the day he busied himself at the computer getting last minute details for the mission ironed out. At eight-thirty he finally packed up his stuff and headed out of his office.

"You were here longer than I expected today." Melinda's voice called from behind him just before he got outside of the building.

Phil stopped and turned around. "Had a lot of work to get through today. You're here pretty late too," he said walking back over to her.

"Hill sent me paperwork right before I was supposed to leave. I'm surprised you came in at all today after last night," Melinda crossed her arms and gave him a just barely smirk.

"Could say the same about you."

"Well, you know how much I hate sitting around doing nothing."

"Isn't that what you do at your desk most days?" Phil teased.

Melinda pursed her lips together tight and shook her head. "Don't start with me, Phil. Or, you'll be looking for a new pilot."

"Don't want to have to do that."

She studied his face for a moment. "You looked stressed, like you need to release some tension. Want me to get the mats out and we can go a couple of rounds?" she said letting the tiniest smile play on her lips. "Like in the old days?"

"I'm a bit rusty. You'd have me flat on my back in three seconds," Phil chuckled.

Melinda raised her eyebrow slightly, her smile still tiny. "All the more reason to give it a go."

"I'm afraid I need to decline tonight," he replied, smiling at her. It was unlike Melinda to flirt with him, but he couldn't help but think that's what she was doing. Maybe it was because Darcy had mentioned that Melinda wanting to rekindle the relationship with him. The thought was just stuck in his head now. "I think, I'm just going to get some rest at home."

"Alright," Melinda replied. "At least go home and have a drink."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Have a good evening, Phil," Melinda gave him a minute smile and then wandered back down the hallway. Phil watched her until she disappeared and then headed out to his car.

* * *

When Phil finally made it home the first thing he did was toss his briefcase on the armchair, loosen his tie from his neck, and grab a beer from the refrigerator. He also grabbed a container of garlic shrimp pasta that Darcy had made a few nights ago, and popped it into the microwave. A few minutes later he was collapsed on the couch watching The Walking Dead and poking at the bowl of pasta in his lap. His phone sat next to him, and now and then he'd glance at it. He wanted to call her or at least send her a text. They left things off at a rather sour point today. Both of them said hurtful things to each other–things that probably should be followed up with an apology. Phil wasn't sure where the relationship was headed, but if was to end he didn't want it to end with them yelling at each other. They both deserved more than that. He sighed and took a bite of his pasta and then a sip of his beer.

He tapped his fingers on his knee, debating whether to call her. He could call and at least apologize for running out on her this morning. Maybe then they could have a civilized conversation about the direction of their relationship. Phil sighed, picking up his phone and started to dial her number. He sighed again and erased the numbers before he got to the last one. He couldn't call her, not tonight. Darcy needed a couple of days to cool off. Trying to talk to her when she was furious was impossible. Instead, he tipped back on the couch after he finished his pasta and beer. There was some really good whiskey up in the kitchen cabinet that kept calling his name. Phil wasn't one to drink alone, but tonight he just needed to numb his mind. As he got up off the couch a small silver chain stuck between the cushions caught his eye. He reached down and picked up the thin delicate bracelet; it was Darcy's favorite and she never took it off. He studied it, rubbing it gently between his fingers, noticing that that clasp was broken. It must have broke and fell off her wrist the other night while she was at his apartment. It looked like it was an easy enough fix, the spring just needed to be tightened a little bit. Nothing that a jeweler need to do. He walked over to the desk and grabbed a tiny screwdriver out of the top drawer. Phil flipped on the desk light and sat down, putting his glasses on. He could fix it and give it back to her the next time he saw her. He knew fixing her bracelet wasn't going to fix their relationship, but he knew how much it meant to her. Their four-month anniversary was coming up at the end of the month, and he planned to buy her a small silver heart charm to put on the chain. He had one picked out already, but now it looked like that plan would be put on hold for a while, if not indefinitely.

He held the clasp up to the light, and turned the screwdriver a couple of times until the tiny screw couldn't turn anymore. The clasp opened and closed again, and he hooked the other end of the bracelet to it, forming a small loop. Darcy had the most delicate wrists, it was fitting that she wore a bracelet to match. Phil rubbed the chain in his fingers again, and closed his eyes.

Another relationship down the drain.

Maybe it was for the best though. His line of work was just too much to have any type of a normal personal life. Dating didn't work when he was with Melinda, and they were allowed to date because they were both in same level. Why did he think that sneaking around trying to date a level three agent was going to be any easier? When he decided to try his hand at dating again after Melinda, he got involved with a cellist. He thought maybe he could have both a SHIELD life and a civilian life. It worked for a while, but when he started to leave for weeks at time and couldn't tell her where he was going or what he was doing, she broke up with him.

He swore of dating for the next eight years ... until he fell for the beautiful, carefree Darcy Lewis. He should have kept his guard up, he shouldn't have let himself fall for her that easily. He allowed the fantasy of having a semi-normal life take over, and now he found himself in a failing relationship ... again. He just couldn't have both a successful job and love life. It was possible ... for some people, like Jasper Sitwell, who had been with the same woman for seven years. She was an agent also, but they had found some sort of balance to make their relationship work. Phil was not about ask what their secret was, even though he really wanted to know.

He yawned and looked at his watch. It was getting late, and he was supposed to check in with Fury before he started his shift tomorrow morning. Phil rubbed the chain between his fingers once last time, before setting it down on the desk and heading off to bed. Sleeping wasn't going to come easy tonight, but he'd have to at least try if he wanted to make it through tomorrow.


End file.
